


Superheroes Come to Feast

by FleetSparrow



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Alpha Bruce Wayne, Alpha Damian Wayne, Alpha Jason Todd, Alpha Tim Drake, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Bruce Wayne is a Bad Parent, Everything Hurts, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, M/M, Miscarriage, Multi, Omega Dick Grayson, Pregnancy, Rape Aftermath, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, The Author Regrets Everything, Threats of Violence, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:54:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 21,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24319153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FleetSparrow/pseuds/FleetSparrow
Summary: For the DC kink meme:ABO AU where omegas are stereotyped as pure, innocent, naive, childlike etc. Omegas are expected to bond young, give their alpha a big family and take care of the home.Dick is already Robin and has been for several years when he unexpectedly presents as an omega instead of a beta like both of his parents.Shit gets worse from there.
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson/Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson/Jason Todd, Tim Drake/Dick Grayson
Comments: 234
Kudos: 705





	1. God Knows I've Tried

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt:
> 
> ABO AU where omegas are stereotyped as pure, innocent, naive, childlike etc. Omegas are expected to bond young, give their alpha a big family and take care of the home.
> 
> Dick is already Robin and has been for several years when he unexpectedly presents as an omega instead of a beta like both of his parents. Dick Grayson’s life becomes incredibly controlled; he’s taken out of woodwork and put into home ec, has to wear a collar when he’s in public as a precaution against a forced bond, no longer expected to go to college or get a job, although he still wants to do both of those things. Bruce isn’t overtly sexist, but he definitely views Dick as less competent as he did before presentation.
> 
> In response, Dick strikes out more and more as Robin, perhaps this eventually causing the transition to Nightwing. As Nightwing, nothing’s changed - the suit suppresses his scent, he’s still as good as he ever was, looked at to lead etc.
> 
> Dick doesn’t advertise his secondary sex, but it’s a matter of public record so he isn’t able to get a job as a police officer and has to deal with the press constantly. What I really want is Dick pushing against society’s standards through Nightwing, even as he watches Bruce adopt kid after kid, all alphas, all better than him.
> 
> Something’s gotta give.
> 
> Maybe Bruce and the rest of the fam decide to remind Dick of his place in the pack hierarchy. Maybe his suppressants fail on the job, and he’s hunted by half the rogues gallery who want to bond with Nightwing as a way to get at Batman et al. Maybe it’s as Dick Grayson that he’s attacked, and he doesn’t fight back to the fullest of his ability in an attempt to keep his secret identity, only to realise too late that he’s gonna be force bonded. Maybe the Titans find out about Nightwing’s designation by accident and decide that they’re gonna keep him safe by pack bonding him and turning him from the assumed-alpha to the pack omega.
> 
> Just. Something Unfair and Bad happening to omega Dick, because I’m a bad person, please and thank you.
> 
> OP said they want me to rip their still-beating heart from their chest, so that's what's happening.

It started in Dick’s last year of high school. He was nearly eighteen, well past the age when he should have already presented if he wasn’t a beta like his parents.  
  
But then, there were always late bloomers.  
  
Dick had collapsed in gym and the school nurse had called Bruce to come pick Dick up. When Dick awoke, he found Bruce and the nurse speaking in hushed voices, and when Bruce looked at him, it was with a mix of pride and disappointment.  
  
“You had your first heat,” Bruce told him, on the way home that day. Dick wouldn’t be going back to school until it wore off. “I should’ve been more careful. I might have guessed you’d present late, but I didn’t think….” He shook his head. “Don’t worry, Dick. You’re strong.”  
  
Dick felt kinda sick, but said nothing the whole ride home.  
  
Heats, he decided, were the worst. He was stuck in his room all day, could barely concentrate, and wasn’t allowed to go out on patrol, either. Only Alfred came in to see him, bringing Dick food and water to keep him going.  
  
“Why can’t Bruce see me?” Dick asked.  
  
“It’s not safe.”  
  
“He can control himself,” Dick muttered.  
  
Alfred squeezed his shoulder. “We don’t know if you can.”  
  
Dick decided he’d stop talking about it.  
  
He lost about five pounds by the time his heat was over, just from sweating it out. His appetite was voracious when he was finally let out of his room. He’d missed patrol, exercising, even school. It had taken a full week, which Bruce assured him was normal for a first heat, but this didn’t make Dick feel any better.  
  
When he went back to school, his schedule had changed.  
  
The dropped him from woodworking into home economics, switched his lunch to match the other omegas’, and kicked him out of gym class and put him in French, a language he already spoke fluently. He also now had a free class period which was meant to be spent with the other omegas learning about themselves and their new duties as adults.  
  
Dick hated it.  
  
“Bruce?” Dick asked one evening before patrol. “Can you tell the school to put me back into my old classes?”  
  
“I’m afraid I can’t, Dick.”  
  
“Why not? You’re rich enough.”  
  
Bruce chuckled, but shook his head. “Dick, these classes are meant to prepare you for life.”  
  
“Yeah, and we’re making a quilt in Home Ec. I don’t see how that’s gonna help me fight crime.”  
  
“That’s supposed to be a secret,” Bruce said.  
  
“I know, but at least I was learning something in Woodworking.” Dick rolled onto his hands. “We’re doing a baby project next week, like that’s important.”  
  
Bruce was silent.  
  
“I mean, doesn’t that seem like something I should take when I’m older? I’m not running off to have a kid. I still am one!”  
  
Bruce sighed harshly through his nose. “Dick.” He turned to look at him. “Your classes are not up for debate.”  
  
“What good is Home Ec gonna do me for college, B? It doesn’t even count as a credit, I checked!”  
  
Bruce blinked. “You still want to go to college?”  
  
Dick righted himself. “Uh, yeah? Why? Did you think that changed?”  
  
“Well, you don’t need to.”  
  
“Yeah. Nobody wants to hire if you don’t go to college. That’s what the counselor said.”  
  
Bruce smiled. “You don’t need to work, Dick. I’ll support you until you bond.”  
  
Dick froze. “I don’t want to.” He shifted his weight. “The Titans and I were thinking of a sort of ‘free love’ commune kind of thing.”  
  
Bruce shook his head. “That was a different time, Dick. You’re not a beta. You can’t do that. And, besides, when you get a little older, you won’t want to.”  
  
Dick frowned.  
  
“Come on. I’ve got your new suit. It will suppress your scent. Get ready for patrol.”  
  
The next indignity came when Bruce Wayne needed to present his ward to society. It hadn’t been necessary before, but all omegas in their social circle were expected to be introduced to their strata. Bruce had let Alfred explain this to Dick, not willing to have another argument over it.  
  
Dick grumbled about it, but Bruce had promised patrol after the party, and Dick was going to hold him to that.  
  
“I’m dressed,” he announced, coming into the parlor where Bruce and Alfred were talking quietly.  
  
“Good,” Bruce said. He picked up a wrapped box from the table. “I have something for you.”  
  
Dick’s eyes lit up, then faded in suspicion. “What is it?”  
  
Bruce laughed and opened it, pulling out a beautiful—if such things can be described thusly—blue collar.  
  
“The heck?”  
  
“It’s for you, Dick,” Bruce said. “For protection. I thought this would match your eyes.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“It’s to protect you. You’ll look stunning in it. Come here.”  
  
Dick moved forward, his body tensing, ready to run. But this was Bruce. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt him. He was just clueless. That was it. Well-meaning, but kinda dumb.  
  
Bruce fastened the collar around Dick’s neck. It felt heavy, a thick leather-wrapped metal.  
  
“There,” Bruce said. “That’s better.”  
  
“Why do I need this again?” Dick asked.  
  
“There’s going to be a lot of strange alphas around tonight. This way, in case we get separated, you won’t get hurt. But don’t worry, Dick, I’ll look after you.”  
  
“You know I can take care of myself,” Dick said.  
  
“But you don’t know how you’ll react. There are always single alphas at these things, looking for a new omega. I don’t want anyone forcing you.” Bruce locked the collar and Dick jumped.  
  
“This way, you can’t open it, either,” Bruce said, pocketing the small key. “Just in case.”  
  
Dick growled under his breath, but said nothing.  
  
The party was horrible. There was so much posturing, so much pomp and expense, and, the worst part, all the other omegas being presented were so much younger than him. He overheard a couple talking about who their parents would be setting them up with, and how excited they were to turn eighteen. One even had the audacity to say he was jealous of Dick for already being of age to bond.  
  
Overall, Dick felt mostly sick, and definitely angry.  
  
That night, after patrol, Dick applied for Hudson University, a college that actually recruited omegas. Dick didn’t give Bruce a chance to talk to him about his future mating prospects after his high school graduation. He informed Bruce that night that he’d been accepted at Hudson, and that he’d be leaving in the morning for New York.  
  
To say that Bruce was disappointed was an understatement, but he didn’t stop Dick. Dick actually smiled genuinely for the first time in months.  
  
His classes at Hudson and patrolling at night were killing his social life, but that was fine. He was set up in an omega-only boardinghouse, which worked out great for his nightly activities. He dropped out after his first year at college, not because he couldn’t hack it, but because he wanted to focus on leading the Titans. Bruce was still supporting him financially, so Dick followed his heart.  
  
He kept an apartment in town for rest and heats, someplace away from the prying eyes and scents of his teammates. Dick had almost told Donna about his secret—after all, she’d been with him since the beginning—but something always stopped him. He kept seeing Bruce’s changed nature towards him in her eyes, and he couldn’t bear it.  
  
Bruce, meanwhile, had adopted a son, a young teen named Jason. Dick hadn’t actually met him, but he sent him his Robin suit as a symbol of his love, letting Bruce know Dick had moved on, and letting Jason know he was free to be Robin with Dick’s blessing.  
  
With Batman and the new Robin handling Gotham, and the Titans drifting apart, Dick headed to another city: Gotham’s wicked little stepsister, Blüdhaven.  
  
Blüdhaven was worse than Gotham in a lot of ways. Its corruption ran deep, all the way through. His perfect cover in this new city would be a cop.  
  
Except, he forgot one important thing.  
  
“We don’t hire omegas,” the recruiter told him, taking one sniff of him, not even bothering to look up from his desk.  
  
“That’s sex discrimination,” Dick said, standing straighter.  
  
The cop looked up at him. “Yeah? You wanna file a complaint? Take it to Metropolis, where they give a shit.”  
  
Well, that plan was right out.  
  
Working at a cop bar, then, might give him the insight he’d need.  
  
He walked into the bar and was nearly overwhelmed by the stench of alphas. Shaking off the tingles in his joints from the smell, Dick headed to the bar.  
  
“We don’t serve civilians.”  
  
“I’m not looking for a drink. I’m looking for a job,” Dick said. “Need a bartender, bouncer, busboy?”  
  
The bartender looked him over. “We don’t hire omegas. Bad for business.”  
  
“Are they,” Dick said.  
  
“Look around,” the bartender said. “These guys were relaxing, now look at them. You got them all keyed up. For your own sake, we don’t hire omegas.”  
  
Dick sucked his teeth and glared around the bar. “Yeah, you and everybody else in this town.”  
  
The bartender—probably the only beta in the room, judging by the way he wasn’t sniffing Dick out—shrugged. “I’d move on if I were you, friend.”  
  
Dick shook out his shoulders. “Yeah. Guess I will.”  
  
Well, even if he couldn’t be hired in the damn city, at least he could still protect it.  
  
He only returned to Gotham when he heard about Jason.  
  
Dick had to be the rock for both of them, for Bruce for allowing his son to nearly be killed, and especially for Jason, who had to learn how to do everything all over again. For the first time in his life, Dick felt like a caretaker, like he knew he *should* feel.  
  
He ached to return to the ‘Haven, to go out on patrol on his own, to lead a team, to just be alone.  
  
At least in Blüdhaven, they hated him outright. Gotham was too sophisticated for that. In Gotham, they lulled you into a false sense of progressiveness.  
  
It took almost a year for Jason to recover. He’d never be Robin again.  
  
Dick moved back out as soon as he could, only to have some kid come up and tell him he had to go back home, because Batman needed his Robin. He let Bruce and Jason handle that.  
  
The next thing he knew, Batman had a new Robin, and Dick had a new enemy.  
  
Blockbuster.  
  
For six months, he tore down Blockbuster’s life, and for months after, Blockbuster tore apart his. Then, Blockbuster was dead.  
  
And Gotham had been nearly demolished by an earthquake.  
  
Dick returned home.  
  
Jason presented as an alpha. Now there were two of them in the house. But Dick couldn’t worry about that. He had a city to save.  
  
He tried to be the best big brother he could be. Both Jason and Tim looked up to him, but there was a strange hesitance about their admiration. Like maybe he wasn’t good enough.  
  
Like maybe he smelled too funny.  
  
Gotham healed, like all cities do, in time. Tim moved into the manor after a terrible year.  
  
And then Tim presented as an alpha.  
  
Dick had acquired several different scent blockers over the years, but none of them seemed to work when the smell of alphas was present everywhere he went.  
  
So, Dick moved out again.  
  
Bruce found out he had a biological son, and, well, for lack of a better term, took him in.  
  
Then Bruce died.  
  
Dick came back to the manor. Jason was in no shape to be Batman, although he was stronger than before, he still had never regained his full agility. Tim was too young to take over, but Dick….  
  
He had never really wanted to do this. But he had no choice. Gotham needed Batman, and Damian needed guidance.  
  
It worked fine for a while, until Damian came into Dick’s room one night. Dick was just getting out of the shower when he found Damian sitting on his bed.  
  
“Both Mother and Father were alphas,” Damian began. “I am sure to be one. Todd and Drake are alphas. But you.” He sniffed the air. “But you’re not. You’re an omega.”  
  
“Thanks for stating the obvious, kid,” Dick said, a little harsher than normal.  
  
“What’s Father’s is mine,” he continued. “Father never adopted you.”  
  
“You can’t adopt adult omegas,” Dick said, then kicked himself for it. “Damian, you’re sitting on my clothes.”  
  
Damian didn’t move. “That means I should be Batman, Grayson. You’re not fit to be.”  
  
Dick took a deep breath, very glad that Damian was too young to have presented yet. “I’m going to count to five. By the time I’m done, I want you off my clothes. One.”  
  
“I don’t have to listen to an omega!”  
  
“Two.”  
  
“When I present, I’m going to bond you.”  
  
“Three.”  
  
“Grayson, this is silly.”  
  
“Four!”  
  
“Why didn’t Father bond you?”  
  
“Five!”  
  
“I told you, I’m not—Oof!”  
  
Dick roughly pushed Damian off the bed and grabbed his clothes. Damian squawked in indignation.  
  
“Next time I tell you to do something , Robin,” Dick said, his voice slipping into Batman’s register. “You do it. Understood?”  
  
Damian glared at him. “No.”  
  
Dick grabbed Damian’s chin. “Robin. I’m in charge here. You’re ten. You’ll do as I ask, or so help me, I’ll ground you from patrol.”  
  
Damian’s eyes widened. He jerked his head out of Dick’s grip and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.  
  
Dick sank to the floor, knowing he’d just messed up. Again.  
  
When Bruce came back, nobody was more relieved than Dick. He could go from the manor. He could rejoin the Titans, or even join the Justice League. He could move out without guilt.  
  
But he wouldn’t.  
  
He wouldn't get the chance.


	2. To Taste The Flesh Not Yet Deceased

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's where the content warnings start.
> 
> And it just gets worse from here on in.

Bruce found Dick after his shower down in the cave. “Dick. I have to speak with you.”

“Yeah?” Dick turned around and was suddenly hit with a surge of arousal. He shook his head to clear it.

“We’ve been talking, as a family, and...it’s time for you to stay home.”

“What do you mean?” Dick’s head was starting to swim, but he wasn’t due for another heat cycle for almost two weeks.

“It’s time you bonded with someone,” Bruce said. “We want you to stay with the family, Dick. The longer you stay unbonded, the more likely someone will take you away from us.”

Bruce couldn’t be putting off that many pheromones, not to the point that Dick was having trouble concentrating. And yet.

Yet.

He couldn’t finish that thought.

“Bruce,” Dick said, and it came out heavy with want.

Bruce touched him, and Dick felt like his skin was on fire.

“Bruce,” he repeated. “What are you doing to me?”

Hands touched his back, and he found Jason behind him, nuzzling his neck.

“It’s OK, Dick,” Jason said. “We won’t hurt you.”

“We won’t hurt you,” Bruce repeated.

Dick mustered what strength he could and wrenched himself from their grips. He backed away, until someone wrapped their arms around him.

“It’s OK, Dick,” Tim said. “We won’t hurt you.”

Dick whined high in his throat as the other two descended upon him.

“No,” he whispered.

“Hush, Dick,” Bruce said.

“Hush, Dick,” Jason and Tim said.

He was on fire. All the alpha pheromones in the air had triggered an early heat. His body was preparing itself to be bred, while his mind raced for a way out.

“No!”

His clothes were ripped from him, and suddenly he was on the ground. Bruce was right on top of him, pinning him down, and then—

“NO!”

Bruce was inside him.

Dick sobbed as Bruce bit down on his neck, claiming him as his own. He could do nothing. Jason and Tim were touching him, their hands like fire on his bare skin. Bruce thrust in again and again until his knot swelled up inside Dick, locking them together.

Dick cried out in a mix of pain and pleasure, his body desperately pushing back onto Bruce even as he wanted nothing more than for Bruce to be finished. Tim and Jason were stroking him, pulling orgasm after orgasm from his body as Bruce rutted him.

Finally, Bruce came, filling Dick up with his seed. Dick howled at the injustice of it all, but that did nothing to deter Jason or Tim, who each had their turn with him after Bruce had finished, claiming him for the whole pack.

Dick had stopped sobbing by the time the three of them had finished. He’d also stopped feeling anything. He was numb, emotionally, mentally, physically.

They carried him back to the showers, cleaning him off with more tenderness than they’d shown him earlier. They took turns whispering sweet nothings into Dick’s ears, petting him, telling him how good he’d felt. Because Bruce had bred him first, it was Bruce’s room they took him to after they’d cleaned him.

Dick curled in on himself as soon as he hit the mattress. Bruce had to bodily unfold him to hold Dick against him.

“Don’t be cross, Dick,” he said. “It’s for your own safety. It’s what you were born to do.”

Dick didn’t respond.

Eventually, exhaustion got the better of him, and Dick fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.


	3. Down Inside I'm Bleeding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear, the next Bruce/Dick thing I write is gonna be happy, I promise.

Dick woke up sore and alone. He was drained, horrified, and yet he felt nothing.

Just empty.

He dressed and dragged himself down to breakfast, where the family was already eating.

“We thought you could sleep in today,” Bruce said, smiling at him.

Dick just slunk into his seat, saying nothing.

Damian sniffed at Dick, then said, “I’m very upset, Father.”

“Why’s that?”

“You promised I could bond with Grayson.”

“You will, when you’re older.”

Damian huffed and looked back at Dick. “Are you going to have Father’s new pups, Grayson?”

“It’s too early to tell, Damian,” Bruce said, in a tone that suggested the end of the conversation was there. “Go back to your breakfast.”

Dick stared at his food. Everything was too bright, the smells too strong, the voices too loud. He poked at it with his fork, then let it drop from his hand.

“I’m gonna go to my room now,” he said, rising, not making eye contact with anyone.

“Are you ill, Dick?” Bruce asked.

Dick wanted to laugh. He wanted to cry. He wanted to feel _something._

Most of all, he wanted to vomit.

It wasn’t morning sickness, no. That would come in a few weeks. It was the sickness of betrayal, of knowing that everyone who had loved him had done so because they were waiting to breed him.

Under it all, he wanted to die.

Two months into his pregnancy, he threw himself down the stairs. He came out of that with a broken wrist and a sprained knee, but still pregnant.

Four months in, Bruce took him to see his first ultrasound. Three pups. One for each father.

Dick tried to overdose that night. He only made himself sick.

At six months, he was nearly due. Omega pregnancies only lasted eight, even with multiples. He tried throwing himself off of the penthouse balcony, but was caught by a passing Supergirl, and returned to safety.

Bruce stopped letting Dick leave the manor after that, and kept Dick with him at all times.

By seven months, Dick stopped trying to flee.

In month eight, he had three pups of his own.

The fathers were already in love with their kids, taking them around with them, giving Dick time to rest in between feedings. Dick was exhausted all the damn time. Bruce had assured him again that this was what he was meant for, but all Dick could think about was going on patrol again.

“Lian’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me,” Roy told him during a Titan conference call.

“Same with the twins,” Wally said.

“You didn’t birth them,” Dick said.

“Kids light up your life, Dick,” Gar said. “With me on this, Donna?”

“I am,” she said. “Dick, it just takes time.”

Every time he looked at the babies, his heart filled with something, all right, but it wasn’t love.

It was contempt.

“Bruce,” Dick tried one time when Bruce was there helping with the kids. “Promise you won’t try to breed me again.”

“Dick. It’s what you were—”

“At least give me a year.”

Bruce frowned, then seemed to come to a decision. “All right, Dick. We’ll give you a year. That’ll be good for the kids, too.”

“Sure.”

He didn’t care. Couldn’t care.

He had a one year reprieve, and he was going to make the most of it.


	4. I've Even Lied

“I’m worried, Alfred,” Dick overheard Bruce saying from the babies’ room. “Dick doesn’t seem to be bonding well. He doesn’t want to spend time with them like he should.”

“Perhaps he’s still upset at the way in which they were made.”

“He shouldn’t take it out on them,” Bruce said. “I’m going to call in a doctor. We need to make sure nothing’s wrong. Sometimes omegas reject their first brood, and I’m worried that’s what’s happening.”

“If you think that’s best.”

“I do.”

“I will make the arrangements.”

Dick ducked away, hiding in a spare room until he was sure Alfred had passed by. He didn’t need a doctor, dammit! He needed freedom. He needed his old life back.

Doctor.

Dick suddenly had an idea. If he could get out on patrol, just once without anyone knowing, maybe he could—

His train of thought was broken by Bruce opening the door.

“What are you doing in here?”

Dick reacted like a startled cat. Bruce held out his hand, reaching for him like Dick might bite it.

“Dick. What’s wrong?”

“I want to patrol again.”

“They’re too young to be left alone.”

“Teach Damian how to be a father, since he wants to so badly.”

Bruce’s eyes narrowed. “Dick.”

“I just want to go out again.”

“In a few months, maybe,” Bruce said. “Once the babies are a little older.”

“Before or after you knock me up again?” Dick snapped.

Bruce’s mouth thinned into a hard line. He inhaled sharply, then took Dick’s hand. “Alfred’s going to make an appointment for you to see a doctor who specializes in omega habits. You’ve never really had proper training, and that was my fault. I let you pretend too long.”

If Dick had had fangs, he would’ve ripped Bruce’s throat open. Instead, he stared at their hands, wondering how he could have been so totally fooled into this new life.

“Dick? Did you hear me?”

“Yeah. No patrol. Seeing a doctor.” When he looked back up at Bruce, his eyes shone with angry tears. “I got it.”

He started to push past Bruce, but Bruce caught his arm. “Where are you going?”

“I need to check on your kids,” Dick said.

Bruce looked struck, and let Dick go.

Doctor Brown was a beta who specialized in omega habits, with a focus on their mental states leading up to and following breedings. To say that there were no omega doctors would be false, but there were none in New Jersey, as the state board did not rank them as unbiased professionals. Dr. Brown was pleasant cis woman with a calm, some might say motherly, tone.

Dick had never met someone he hated more on sight.

“How was your last cycle?” she asked, looking over her glasses. Where did doctors even find half-moons anymore?

“Which one?” Dick asked, his arms and legs crossed on the sofa of one of the lesser used parlors.

“Your heat cycle, first.”

“Hellish.”

“And your breeding cycle?”

“Also hellish.”

“What makes you say this?”

Dick pursed his lips. “I don’t think you really care about that.”

“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t mean it.”

Dick looked at the door. “OK. Where would you like me to start? When my ex-guardian and two of my brothers forced me into an early heat, then mounted me, or should I start with all the times I tried to off myself throughout the pregnancy? Or maybe you really want to know about why I can’t bond with those kids up there?”

She nodded and made a couple of notes. “It’s common for a first breeding to be perceived as hostile, even an attack. You’ve never had someone else attempt to bond with you?”

Dick huffed a laugh. “No, I did not.”

“It’s also not uncommon for a first time breeding to bring up thoughts of self-harm.” She looked up at him, that calm face so eager to hear his secrets. “Had you ever had those feelings before?”

“No.”

“Are you concerned about your lack of bonding with your children?”

“Not particularly.”

“Why’s that?”

“Honestly, doc? Because I don’t plan to be around them much longer.”

The doctor frowned. “Are you thinking of harming yourself?”

Dick looked her in the eye, and, in that moment, knew he had said too much. His shoulders slumped. “No, doc. I’m not.”

“I do have notify your alphas if you are.”

“I know. I’m just….” What did she want to hear? What would comfort Bruce and let Dick out?

“I guess it’s just postpartum depression, doc,” Dick said, uncrossing his arms, and attempting a smile.

“I’d like to jump back to something you said earlier,” she said. “Why do you think you’re having trouble bonding with your children?”

Dick took a long breath while he gathered his thoughts. “I look at them and not one of them looks like my family. They look just like their fathers.”

She smiled in understanding. “That can make it difficult, especially if your memory of the breeding is traumatic.”

“Memories are a bitch, huh?” Dick said, smiling like his usual charming self.

Dick made sure he listened in on her conversation with Bruce, Jason, and Tim.

“His memory of his breeding and cycle is particularly traumatic,” she was saying, “which can be common in a pack breeding. Omegas can be easily overwhelmed by their alphas, and the heat cycle distorts their memories. He also says that he as trouble identifying with his children because of this. I suggest you start including him in the caring of the children, as well as making sure he doesn’t feel alone. He might be continuing to self-harm, or looking for ways to harm himself. As a pack, you might be able to split your duties.”

Dick turned off the feed before he could hear Bruce and them reply. He was sick of it. Sick of it all.

There were no omegas in the superhero society, at least, none that were still heroes. Dick had no examples, no one to look up to.

Fine, then. He’d do it for himself.


	5. To Find The Truth

His year’s reprieve was slowly going by him, and he still hadn’t managed to get free. He pretended everything was fine. He smiled at the children, cooed and called them by name, made sure he looked like the most doting of omegas. But the entire time, Dick was scheming.

As much as he didn’t want the children to be orphans, he desperately wanted to hurt Bruce. Jason and Tim...well, they were under Bruce’s rules, weren’t they? They didn’t really have as much blame as he. Bruce was the Batman, the ultimate in control, and yet he couldn’t keep his own jealousy, his own damn alpha nature in check for his first Robin?

No. What Dick needed to do was to break free and hurt Bruce the way he’d hurt Dick.

He knew which baby was Bruce’s. It was the one with the violet blue eyes, dark and deep in color. But every time he thought about destroying the child, Dick’s heart broke a little. It wasn’t the baby’s fault. It didn’t ask to be born into a broken family.

Dick was no Medea. He had nowhere to return to, and no magical chariot to carry him away there.

Even Alfred now wouldn’t leave him alone, except with the children. They all trusted that Dick wouldn’t hurt himself while he was with them, though it was mostly based on some sort of “brooding” instinct, they thought. They were all so content.

Then Dick hit upon a new idea.

“Kal-El,” he whispered, so softly that even the cameras in the babies’ room couldn’t hear him. “Don’t tell Bruce. I need to see you. I need to get out.”

He prayed that Superman could hear him. And that he would respond.

It was nearly a week later that Superman showed up to the Batcave. Everyone was out on patrol, except Dick, who was monitoring them on the main computer. Superman had brought gifts for the babies.

“Hello, spring bird!” he said. Dick genuinely smiled as Superman pulled him into a hug.

“Hello, Superman. Did you come to see me or the kids?”

“I brought presents, but…” He looked around, then lowered his voice. “What’s wrong, Dick?”

He had meant to be stoic about it, but he barked out a laugh, tears pricking his eyes. “What’s right?”

Superman glanced at the screen. “Can they manage without you?”

Dick nodded, then called into the microphone, “Hey, O. Can you take over? Gotta check on the kids. Over.”

“No problem. Out.”

“Alfred’s with the kids,” Dick said. “Take me flying.”

Dick didn’t breathe again until they were in among the clouds. “I haven’t felt this good in two years.”

“What’s been going on?” Superman asked. “Whenever I ask Bruce, he says you’re under the weather.”

“I’m sick, all right,” Dick said. “Sick of living there.”

“What happened to you two years ago, Dick?”

“What had you heard?”

“We heard that you decided to stop being Nightwing and start a family.”

“Wow. Yeah, I mean, I guess that’s one way to put it.” Dick felt that knot in his stomach start up, but this was Superman. His friend. His _hero_.

“What happened was Bruce and Jason and Tim ambushed me and bred me,” he said, staring down at the city below them. “With no consent on my part. Because, and I quote, ‘it’s what I was made for.’”

Superman’s grip imperceptibly tightened, but it was enough that Dick felt it. “And that’s when you— When did you stop patrolling?”

“As soon as they knew I was pregnant. I don’t even know if my suit’s still around.”

“What happened then?”

“Well, I tried to get rid of them before it was too late, but as you see, that didn’t happen,” Dick said.

“When Kara found you, she said you had fallen over the railing.” Superman’s gaze hardened. “Were you trying to…?”

“Yep,” Dick said. “I thought falling would be the best way to go. Just like my parents, you know? Keep up the tradition.”

Dick didn’t realize he was crying until he blinked. The city was blurring in front of him. Superman wiped away Dick’s tears with his cape.

“I had no idea. I should have— We all should have come and seen you sooner.”

Dick shook his head. “You didn’t know. Besides, it’s Bruce. You really think he would have let you see me like that?”

Superman was quiet.

Dick hugged him tightly. “I just want to get away,” he whispered, the wind nearly taking away his words. “I want my old life back. I want to hurt him. I want...so much.”

“Do you mind if I tell Diana?” Superman asked.

Dick looked at him quizzically. “What do you mean?”

“I think someone needs to talk to Bruce. Not to get his side; we’ve heard that. But what he’s doing to you is unconscionable, Dick.”

Dick smiled wanly. “I know. No, I don't mind if you tell Diana.”

Superman kissed Dick’s forehead. “Don’t worry, Dick. We’ll get you out of this.”

Dick started to respond, when Superman looked away. “Bruce is heading back to the cave. Do you want to go back?”

Dick sighed. “I think I have to. I don’t want him to hurt you, too.”

“We’ll find a way, Dick. I promise.”

They were back in the cave before Bruce and the family got home. Alfred had brought down the kids, who were now crawling over and around Superman. Bruce came over to Dick and nuzzled his cheek, scent-marking him, and Dick hummed happily.

The perfect family omega.


	6. Still the Beast is Feeding

That night, however, Bruce broke his promise.

“Alfred said you left with Clark,” he said, as they undressed for bed.

“I just wanted to go flying,” Dick said, knowing that he couldn’t get out of it by lying. “No harm.”

“You started your heat yesterday,” Bruce said.

Dick paused. “So?”

“Why did he really come over?” Bruce’s voice was down in his Bat register.

Dick shuddered. He was on a heat tamer, as they called it, something to help him stay focused on other things besides breeding. But Bruce had always been able to still him with that voice.

Their bond wasn’t helping.

“Because he wanted to bring stuff for the kids,” Dick said, coolly. “And I’m glad he did. I missed being outside.”

Dick turned his back on Bruce, a mistake he had made before, and Bruce was suddenly right there behind him, not touching him, but barely an inch away.

“Were you trying to bond with him?”

Jealous bastard.

“No, Bruce,” Dick said, turning his head just enough to bare one side of his throat. “I’m not trying to breed with anyone. I just wanted some freedom.”

Bruce bit his neck.

A rush of arousal hit him, making Dick weak in the knees. Bruce all but threw him onto the bed, climbing on behind him.

Dick felt that haze that signaled a triggered heat cycle bloom over his mind. He also got that knot of panic in his gut.

“Bruce, no. You promised,” Dick said, hating how his voice whined with lust. “You said you’d give me a year!”

“You shouldn’t be flirting with other alphas.”

“Clark’s not— He’s not anything, Bruce!”

But Bruce wasn’t listening. He rolled Dick over and pushed him down, entering him in one swift motion.

Dick yowled, scrambling up the headboard in an effort to get away. Bruce pulled him back.

“Dick, calm down,” he said, snapping at Dick’s nape. “This is why you had trouble the last time. Calm down!”

Sobbing, Dick stopped moving. He tried to focus on old meditation practices Bruce had taught him years ago as Robin, but all he could feel was Bruce, inside him, around him, invading his mind and body. Dick bowed his head and waited until Bruce was finished.

Bruce held him afterward, petting Dick like he was a startled cat that needed soothing, and whispered sweet nothings to him.

Dick certainly felt like nothing.

“They’re not even weaned yet,” he muttered, the first thing he’d been able to say for hours.

“Don’t worry,” Bruce said, kissing him. “We’ll take care of you.”

Dick wanted to scream. He wanted to sob. To rage. To rail against everyone in the house.

Instead, he settled into an uncomfortable sleep.

Bruce was gone when he awoke, and Dick was glad for it. He didn’t know how he woul have faced him if he had tried to be romantic in the morning. Alfred brought him breakfast in bed, something Dick had only ever had when he was sick or too heavily pregnant.

“Mister Bruce has gone on a League mission,” Alfred informed him when Dick asked.

Maybe this meant Clark and Diana could get to him.

Bruce didn’t return for a week. This time, however, Jason went out as Batman. Dick was still supposed to be at home, and, this time, Alfred stayed with him.

Damian came home early one night, and sat down with Dick and the kids in the cave. Damian kept sniffing Dick.

“Father bred you again, didn’t he?”

“Your interest in me is morbid, kid,” Dick said.

“I don’t know how I feel about it,” Damian continued, ignoring Dick. “I’m the heir, but Father keeps having more children.”

“Isn’t that what alphas are supposed to do?” Dick replied blandly. “Make babies and rule the family?”

Damian looked at him curiously. “Yes. And omegas are supposed to be happy. Why aren’t you?”

“You don’t have that long, Damian.”

“You’re too independent for an omega. Perhaps Father should get you, you know, fixed.”

Dick stared in shock. “Don’t you even joke about that.”

“Why not? Male omegas often have trouble like that,” Damian said, more confused than mean-spirited. “Especially late presenters.”

Dick grabbed him, startling one of the babies. “If I hear you suggest that to your father, you won’t live to see twelve, got it?”

Damian’s eyes were wide in betrayal and fear. Then, coming to himself, he growled.

“You’re not my mother or my father! You’re just my father’s pet!”

Dick slapped him.

Damian was stunned.

“Richard!”

They both jumped and turned to face Alfred on the stairs. He was furious.

“Go to your room this instant.”

“I’m not a child, Alfred,” Dick said.

“Now!”

Dick’s stomach knotted like a fist, and he sprang up out of his seat and marched past Alfred up to the house. He didn’t bother to stay and listen to what Alfred might have said to Damian.

How dare that brat! Suggesting that Dick needed to be tamed, like some dumb animal. That was beyond the pale.

That was also Dick’s second biggest fear.

He fell asleep in an angry puddle of tears, crying for what he’d lost and might still lose.

Bruce was back that night, and, when Dick woke up the next morning, he found himself collared and leashed.

“You hit my son,” Bruce said, in lieu of a good morning. “Your own brother.”

“I slapped him, I didn’t hit him,” Dick said, as though that might make some sort of difference to Bruce.

“This rebellion has to stop, Dick,” Bruce said, sounding beleaguered. “You’re not eighteen anymore. You’re an adult. You have children to look after.”

He sat down on the bed beside Dick. “Maybe Damian’s right. I may have let you have too much independence.” He touched Dick’s thigh, petting him absently. “I’m going to have to consider it if this continues.”

Dick felt sick to his stomach.

“Bruce. I don’t want you to do that. I just want you to remember me, to think about me.”

“I do, Dick, don’t you see?” He nuzzled Dick’s cheek. “I’m always thinking about you.”

“No, Bruce. You’re thinking about what you want me to be, not who I am,” Dick said. “I’m still me. I was Robin. I led the Titans. I’m good, Bruce. I always have been.”

Bruce sighed, and Dick knew he hadn’t got through to him at all.

“Your life has changed now, Dick,” he said. “It’s time you realized it.” He stood. “I’m scheduling another appointment with the specialist. I’m going to try and help you, Dick, but you need to learn your new place in this family.”

Dick didn’t feel upset. He didn’t even feel angry.

He was just numb.

“OK, Bruce,” he said, quietly. He tugged on the leash. “Do I need this now?”

Bruce pressed his lips together as if debating with himself, then undid the leash. “But the collar stays.”

Dick nodded. Bruce curled the leash around his hand and left Dick alone.


	7. This Wicked Little Town

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've made a playlist for this fic!  
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0r2D3KSXBkg3rQe8S4AFO4?si=0pDEI7VBQQqxdyFs0A3v-A
> 
> Every song will make you sad.
> 
> But there's hope! Maybe. Sorta.
> 
> hehehehehe

“Let’s touch back on something you said in our last session,” Dr. Brown said. “You were having trouble bonding with your pups because they didn’t look like you. Has that subsided?”

“Yes,” Dick said, dully.

“Please, elaborate.”

“I realized I was being foolish,” he said, not meeting her eyes. “You know, I’m going to have a new litter. I have to start...knowing my place.”

“And what about your thoughts of self-harm? Have those gone away?”

“Yes, doctor. It was selfish of me. I wasn’t thinking about the family.”

Dr. Brown made some notes. “Was this heat cycle more tolerable?”

“Yes.”

“And the breeding itself?”

“It was….”

“Everything you say here is in confidence.”

That was a damn lie.

“It was mutually satisfying,” Dick said. “I was just overwhelmed by it again.”

“All studies show that it does get easier with each successive cycle.”

Dick nodded mutely.

“Are you looking forward to your next litter?”

Dick smiled blandly. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

“You seem to have made great progress since our last session.”

“Well, you see, I’ve had certain things explained to me.”

“Such as?”

“My place in this family.”

“And it doesn’t chafe?”

“Of course not.”

It burned.

Dick didn’t listen in on their conversation once Bruce consulted with the doctor. He was worried about what had happened between Bruce and the League. If Clark had been able to talk about him, wouldn’t he have been saved by now?

Then again, maybe Clark saw Bruce’s side.

He was only having two pups this time, and thank god for it, because some omegas routinely produced four or more. That was the worst thing, Dick thought. He had wanted a large family at one time, back when he was a kid, when he thought he was still a beta. Now, look at him.

He crashed in the kids’ room, letting them crawl on him, trying to work up any kind of love for them.

It wasn’t working.

Jason came sniffing him out one day, while he was feeding the kids.

“Hey, Dick.” He hopped up on the bed and grabbed his baby. “You OK?”

No. Dick was exhausted again.

“Of course, Jason. Is something wrong?”

“No. Bruce just said you might need some help now, since you’re going to have a new litter.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

Jason cocked his head. “How come you don’t seem happy like you used to?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“I was going through a whole bunch of pictures from when you were Robin. You were always smiling. Even when Bruce was gone, you smiled more. I haven’t seen you smile in, like, years.”

Dick laid down the last fed child, watching the boy crawl over to his siblings. “Guess I don’t feel like I have much to smile about.”

“I thought omegas were always happy.”

Dick froze. “Who tells you guys these things? That’s what Damian said, too.”

Jason shrugged. “It’s what they teach us in school. Alphas want big families, which, yeah, but so do omegas. Like, omegas don’t dream about anything else. That’s why there’s so few omega college grads and stuff.”

Dick sniffed. “There’s a lot of other reasons, too.”

“You didn’t graduate college.”

“Yeah, but I was busy being Robin. And then Nightwing, and leading the Titans. I was too busy.”

Jason nodded, watching as the kids dozed on each other. “I’m sorry you didn’t like your first bonding.”

Dick looked at him. Nineteen, going on twenty, and actually sorry for Dick.

“Next time, I’ll make it better for you,” Jason continued. “You know, after Bruce’s litter. Next time, I’m gonna romance you myself.”

Dick’s heart dropped to his stomach.

“You sure know how to make a guy feel special, Jay.”

Jason beamed.

Dr. Brown came by more often, and every time, she said that Dick was improving. But then, Dick had always been a good actor. Jason and Tim seemed to buy it. Even Bruce thought Dick was getting better. Everyone but Alfred and Damian.

By the time the second litter came, the first were walking and talking. Damian was off with the new Titans team. Jason had been doing more away missions, while Tim was working at Wayne Enterprises and going to college.

Dick, as usual, was left at home with the newborns.

The twins were girls, identical, and they had Dick’s bright blue eyes. He loved them marginally more than he did the other children, which was, unfortunately, not very much at all. Still, these two, he wanted to give a fighting chance.

Alfred watched Dick constantly while the others were away, making sure he couldn’t harm himself or the children. Mostly, Dick was bone tired. Bruce had bought him books and sent him videos about omega psychology, about their breeding cycles, about how to be a newborn parent, and about how to be happy with what he had.

Dick read them aloud to the boys, but not to the girls. He didn’t want to fill their heads with gender essentialism nonsense, even this young. And, once they were old enough to sleep in the nursery alone, Dick rejoined Bruce’s bed.

“Are you getting happier?” Bruce asked, spooning Dick one night.

“Of course,” Dick said, automatically. “What more could I want?”

“I was thinking,” Bruce began. “Why don’t you help out Alfred a little more? It’ll be good for you to improve your housekeeping skills.”

Dick kept his breath measured and even. “Sure, Bruce. Anything you say.”

Bruce growled and gently bit Dick’s neck.

Dick felt nothing.

Alfred showed Dick how to cook, watched over him as he took care of the laundry, and assisted him with cleaning. But, beneath it all, Alfred exuded a level of distrust Dick didn’t know what to do about.

“Have it out with me,” Dick said, while they were preparing dinner. Alfred was silent. “I mean it, Alfred.”

Alfred put down the towel he was using and turned to face Dick. “Mister Bruce has always needed stability in his life. You gave that to him as a child. He’s looking for it now. Don’t deny him that, Richard.”

“What about my stability?”

“My first duty has been, and always will be, to Mister Bruce. Your soup is boiling.”

Dick looked back at the pot and jumped, turning down the flame. Alfred left the kitchen to set the table, leaving Dick to wonder, belatedly, when Alfred had stopped calling him by a title.


	8. You've Got No Other Choice

Dick had been good for months, now. He never talked about leaving, he doted on the children whenever anyone was watching—which was all the time—and he stopped asking to go out on patrol. And after four agonizing months, Bruce started letting Dick talk to people outside the family again.

He knew Tim had set it up so any computer Dick used would record what he did, so Dick remained careful. He joined some omega support groups, he started posting pictures of the children on his public social media profiles, and he made sure to smile whenever he chatted with the Titans. He’d been their leader at one time, and now even Garth talked down to him. But Dick acted just as they wanted him to.

Their guard had been let completely down.

Dick asked Bruce before he called Clark next, even going so far as to suggest that Bruce could be in on the call while they spoke. Dick knew he wouldn’t get a chance to do anything without Bruce’s knowledge, so he used it instead.

Bruce agreed. So long as it was a video call, and as long as he could be there. Dick had smiled and kissed him in thanks.

“Dick!” Clark’s voice boomed over the video. “You look much better than I last saw you.”

Dick smiled. “I’m in a better place now.”

“Good to hear.” He and Bruce made eye contact, but said nothing. “How are the kids?”

“They’re wonderful,” Dick said. “They’re growing so fast!”

“I’d love to see them some time.”

“We’ll be having a party soon,” Bruce said. “Dick’s birthday is coming up.”

“How old will you be, Dick?”

“Twenty-eight.” His stomach clenched. “It doesn’t seem like it’s been two years, already.”

Bruce rubbed his face against Dick’s, supposedly in affection, but Dick could feel his jealousy. He was sure Clark could, too.

“Have they been a good two years?” he asked.

“Of course,” Bruce said.

“Well, they’ve had their ups and downs,” Dick said “But it’s like Kori used to say.” He rattled off a string of Tamaranean, then laughed.

So did Clark.

Which meant he got the message.

Dick could feel Bruce’s gaze on him, so he nuzzled him back. “Clark, I’m so happy now, I could die.”

They chatted about usual small talk things, and then Dick ended the call after Clark heard one of the babies wake up and cry. Bruce followed Dick to the nursery.

“What did you say to Clark?” he asked.

Dick shook his head. “You know, Bruce, one day I’m not going to find your jealousy charming.”

Bruce stepped closer to Dick. “You didn’t answer my question.”

Dick sighed. “It means, roughly, ‘the flower of love burns bright in the sun’. It’s what she used to say to me when she was happy. It just doesn’t translate to English well.”

He turned and kissed Bruce, pressing up against him. “I meant what I said, Bruce. I’m happy now. I’ve learned my place.”

Bruce wrapped his arms around Dick’s waist. “I’m so happy, Dick.” He smiled and kissed Dick’s hair. “We were all so worried.”

Dick closed his eyes and, for just a second, almost believed himself.

The email came from Lois, an article that she had found that might be interesting for Dick. It was about New Jersey’s new law regarding bonded, but unmarried omegas. They could now choose to marry someone they weren’t bonded with, although they would have to give up their children from previous bondings. Dick sent her back a message saying what a shame he thought that was, those poor omegas who wouldn’t marry their alphas.

But that wasn’t the article he was meant to read.

On the same page, it listed another story about the rights of alphas in packs. Unless all the pack alphas decided to cut loose an omega, the omega had no rights to leave the pack. And, in a pack dynamic, like most alpha relationships, the alphas’ estate passed down to their next alpha pack member or child. Which meant that pack omegas only had one chance to leave their pack.

Typically, that was murder.

It segued into another article about an omega in Arizona who had fled his pack, only to be found and returned by the police in Idaho. When discovered, the omega had been living with a cis beta woman, and had had a child.

The omega had been fixed upon his return to the pack.

Dock felt sick upon reading the articles, but he knew why Clark had had Lois send them. Legally, there was nothing they could do, at least, as they were.

There was no such thing as an Omega Protection Agency, because omegas had never been publicly in need of help. Certainly, there were occasional omega protests, but those were almost always immediately quashed by their alphas. Only in some of the more radical states did omegas have anything like full rights.

Gotham was not located in one of those. Hell, even Metropolis wasn’t in a free state. They just had a kinder, gentler sort of law.

Dick needed a new plan.

He started by taking more of an interest in his alphas. He tried to help Tim with his homework, to help Jason with his bike, to help Damian navigate being a leader, and to help Bruce with the children. Damian was still a little gun shy around him, and Alfred was still cold, but the rest seemed to be happier and happier with his progress.

Maybe a little too happy.

“Dick,” Bruce said, one night. “Jason wants the chance to breed you again. I thought that might be a nice birthday present for you.”

Dick kept his breathing calm, but his heart raced. “That seems more like a present for Jason.”

“Dick.”

“I’m teasing!” He rolled over. “What about Tim? Has he mentioned me?”

“He’s busy,” Bruce said. “He’s thinking about school right now. Jason’s ready to be a father again.”

Then he should take care of his own kid.

Dick pressed his face to Bruce’s, letting him scent-mark him. “OK. Tell Jason that sounds fine. Just maybe not the night of the party. I don’t know how tired I’ll be. Remember, I haven’t been out in a long time.”

“You’ll be amazing.”

“I always am.”

The party was attended by nearly everyone in the superhero community. Everyone Dick had known in his old life had come to celebrate his new one. They cooed over the children, all of them being shown off by their very proud papas. Dick spent the party smiling and seething.

Dick took the children upstairs once it got late, rejoining the party only once they were asleep. He was tired, like he had predicted, but also exhilarated. It had been a long time since he’d been around so many people, so many friends.

And yet….

They all treated him slightly worse, as if he wasn’t good enough anymore.

This was what he was made for.

The party finally wound down, and the Bats started getting ready for patrol.

“I’ll check on the kids,” Dick said, kissing his alphas in turn. He kept his smile on all the way to the kids’ room.

The light wouldn’t turn on. He shut the door behind him and let his eyes adjust. There was a breeze in the room, and a strange odor wafting on it. He knew that smell.

Fear toxin.

And, roses?

Strangely, no panic settled in him. Just a state of calm. He walked to the cribs and found them empty. He had to tell Bruce. He had to tell all of them.

He tried to suppress a smile. They were gone. The kids were gone.

He picked up the transmitter in the room and called the cave.

“Bruce. The children are gone.”

“Dick?”

“They’re gone. They’ve been taken. It smells like Ivy and Scarecrow have been here.”

“Stay there, Dick. We’ll be right up.”

It took less than thirty seconds for the alphas to arrive, Damian in tow. They all looked panicked. Bruce took in the scene, fully in Batman mode, and yet there was a new tension in his jaw.

“They must have been taken during the party,” Dick said calmly. “Let me go after them.”

“There might be a ransom demand.”

Dick shook his head. “Why didn’t they leave one?” Suddenly, a rush of anger bubbled up inside him. “You took me out of commission, Bruce. The same time Nightwing disappears, Dick Grayson has children. It doesn’t take a detective to put those together, especially once you announced you were funding Batman.”

Bruce turned to him. “Are you saying this is my fault?”

“I’m saying if you don’t let me out, I’ll go out myself.”

Bruce straightened up, alpha posturing, but Jason stepped between them. “Dick’s right. Omegas are the best trackers of their own kids.”

Bruce’s gaze was hard, but Dick didn’t back down. “All right. But you wear your collar and you don’t go alone.”

“OK. Just give me my suit.”

“Jason goes with you.”

“Fine.” Dick turned on his heel. “Let’s go.”


	9. Just For One Day

God, he felt out of shape. He’d been working out as much as he could, but that wasn’t the same as patrolling. At the same time, he felt refreshed. _This_ was what he’d been born for.

Flying.

The whole family was searching for the children. Gotham became their battleground and no one would be going home before they were found.

Jason and Dick went to Ivy’s garden in the park, Jason rather pointlessly reminding Dick to be careful. But Dick had the idea that the kids weren’t there. He had a strong hunch they weren’t anywhere anyone wanted to look.

Ivy let them surprisingly close to her before her plants caught them.

“My. Two birds I haven’t seen in a while,” she said, coming down on a giant leaf. “But you know what they say. Two in the bush….”

“I’ve always thought that was an unfair exchange rate,” Dick said, his old quips coming back to him.

“Where are the Wayne children?” Jason shouted. Dick rolled his eyes behind his mask. So like an alpha to get straight to the point.

Ivy shrugged. “I don’t know what you mean. The only children here are mine.”

“You helped take them. We’re here to get them back.”

“So forceful,” Ivy said. “One would almost think they’re yours.”

Jason growled.

“What would it take to let us walk out of here?” Dick asked. “A ‘sorry to bother you’ and a quick exit?”

Ivy smiled. “I know where they are, but I also have instructions.”

“We don’t play by your rules, Ivy,” Jason said.

She huffed. “Fine. They’re not my kids. It’s no skin off my nose.”

Jason thrashed in his bonds, but Dick remained still. The plant holding him loosened just a tad.

“What are your instructions?” he asked.

Ivy pointed to Jason. “He stays with me, and calls off the Bat attack.”

“And me?”

“You go to where you’re supposed to.”

Dick looked to Jason, who was staring between then in confusion.

“Don’t worry, Red,” Dick said. “I’m more than capable.”

“He said not to—”

“I know, but what choice do we have?”

Jason looked skeptical, but nodded. “OK. I’ll tell the others.”

The plant dropped Dick. He landed in an easy crouch. When he straightened, he was Nightwing the leader, Nightwing the hero.

Who he was meant to be.

Ivy blew him a kiss and he walked out.

He heard Jason yelling after him, demanding to know where he was going. Dick was going to prove himself. He’d been Bruce’s protégé, his confidant, his Robin. He was the world’s second greatest detective.

Dick was going to Arkham.

The lights in the place were on emergency power. There was a surprise, the inmates were running the asylum. They’d remodeled the building in the last two years, but that hadn’t helped it any. The cells still looked the same. There was a faint trace of fear toxin in the air, but it didn’t faze Dick. He was living his nightmares.

“Hello, Nightwing!” came a voice from the loudspeakers. Joker. “Long time, no see. Are you here for the Wayne kiddies? Then step right this way. Hahahahahaha!”

Dick felt the rush of adrenaline go through him, and he grinned. This would be fun.

He followed the painted, often contradictory, arrows that dotted the walls, leading him down towards the underground cell the Joker had been placed in. It seemed like most of the patients had moved out, or broken out, as the case was. When he reached the end of the stairway, he paused.

There was light there, in the last cell, and someone was singing.

“Hush little babies, don’t say a word. Joker’s gonna buy you a Robin bird.

“And if that Robin bird won’t sing, Joker’s gonna to kill him a Nightwing.”

Dick moved into the light. “It’s been two years, and you’re already planning my death? I feel so loved.”

Joker turned around from the babies on the bed, grinning madly. “Nightwing! Look at you, all grown up! You didn’t tell Uncle Joker you had kiddos. Very naughty!”

“Yeah, well, they were kind of a surprise for me, too,” Dick said.

“Look at him,” Joker said, picking up Bruce’s son. “He looks just like his daddy!”

“Doesn’t he, just,” Dick said, flatly.

Joker glanced at Dick. “You know, two years ago, you wouldn’t have let me stay this close to a kid. What happened? Tell Uncle Joker all about it.”

“We don’t have the time,” Dick said. “How about this? You threaten me a little, try to kill me, I throw a couple of jokes back at you, then, right before I win, you hit me with a mallet or something and carry me out to your other lair where you can tie me up to a rocket.”

Joker’s face fell into an almost comical frown. “Never seen that kind of death wish before.”

Dick shrugged. “Wouldn’t it be funny, though?”

Joker seemed to ponder this, but that frown didn’t go away. “I’m not much of a detective. That’s Riddler’s job. But someone hurt you.”

Dick said nothing.

Joker’s eyes went wide. “Oh, no! Someone broke the unbreakable!” His face went hard. “Tell me who, and I’ll kill them. That was my job!”

Dick’s lips twitched. And he looked at the kid in Joker’s arms. “He looks like his father, doesn’t he?”

There was a smashing sound above their heads, and Dick froze.

“Hit me,” Joker said.

“What?”

“Hit me!”

Dick pulled back his arm and punched Joker in the face.

By the time the rest of the Bats got there, Joker was unconscious and tied up, and Dick was cooing over his children.

Bruce nuzzled him, then picked up his son. “Can you take the twins?”

Dick scooped them up and looked to Bruce. “I told you I could get them.”

Even through the lenses of the cowl, Bruce looked doubtful. “We’ll talk about it later. Red Robin, take your brother and the kids home.”

Dick’s mouth thinned to a hard line, but he followed Tim out of Arkham.

Dammit, he’d proved himself! Why were they acting like he wasn’t competent? Tim kept sniffing him while they drove home, as though Dick had been up to something.

Right.

He was just the omega.

You were born for it, Dick.

Jason came home with Bruce and Damian, tired and stressed. Tim had kicked Dick out of the Batcave and sent him up with Alfred to check the children. The nursery had been aired out and the children reinstalled by the time the rest came up to the house.

“Bruce? Can we—?”

“Not now, Dick. Tomorrow.”

Dick nodded. He’d had a taste of freedom again. He didn’t want to go back to being the submissive little omega.

“I’ll sleep here tonight,” Dick said.

Jason looked to Bruce, and he looked at Dick.

“You’ll sleep with Jason tonight.”

“No. I think I should stay with the children.”

“Dick.”

“They need me.”

As if on cue, the twins started crying.

“All right, Dick,” Bruce said. “Stay here tonight.”

“Thank you.” He turned his back on them to take care of the girls.


	10. All The Knives

Dick woke up to a knot inside him.

He flailed, trying to flee, when strong arms wrapped around him to keep him still.

“Shhh, Dick. It’s just me,” Jason whispered. “You’re gonna wake up the kids.”

Dick whined and Jason nipped his neck.

“Go back to sleep, Dick,” he said. “It’ll be over soon. You’ll sleep in my room tomorrow, and I’ll really breed you.”

Dick shut his eyes, but sleep didn’t come for a long time, long after Jason had finished and left for his own room.

Nowhere in this house was safe for him.

He let Jason fuck him again the next night, this time coming to Jason’s room after his patrol. He didn’t bother telling Jason what he liked or how he wanted it, just let him use him until Jason collapsed on him, drained and satisfied.

It was just sex, Dick told himself. No big deal.

Except the breeding part. That was bigger.

Dick went back to sleeping in Bruce’s room afterward, in spite of the sad looks Jason had given him. That was an issue Jason could take up with Bruce if he wanted. Bruce was Dick’s primary bond, his main alpha. The rest were just family.

His twisted, fucked up family.

Dick thought he was going to go mad. The new mating had meant that Bruce could tell Dick he couldn’t go back out on patrol without risking Dick’s attitude, because what omega would willingly risk his pups? Once again, they babied Dick, treating him with kid gloves, like he was some expensive piece of art that might shatter if they were too rough on him.

But Bruce was still fucking him.

Jason had bred him again.

Tim, his more innocent brother—he’d thought—was tracking Dick’s heats for the right time to give him another litter.

And Damian.

The little brat was counting down the days until he presented.

Dick almost hoped Damian would turn out to be an omega like him, just so Dick wouldn’t be the lowest in the household, but even he couldn’t be that heartless. Not with how he was treated now. He shuddered to think of what might have happened had he presented at sixteen, or even younger.

Would Bruce still have claimed him?

Would the Titans have instead?

How many kids would he have had by now?

How long would he have survived then, when he was barely surviving now?

He was two months pregnant when he found out he was having five pups. Jason was ecstatic.

Dick was terrified.

He didn’t try to get rid of them this time. He didn’t have to.

He was coming up the stairs after Bruce when his foot slipped. He went down on his face, hard, then rolled the rest of the way.

Dick knew two things when he regained consciousness. He somehow hadn’t broken his neck, but he was in absolutely unbearable pain. He blacked out again, and when he came to, he was in a private hospital room.

Bruce was sitting beside him, holding Dick’s hand. He couldn’t see or hear anyone else around.

“Do you remember what happened?” Bruce asked.

“I fell.”

“Yes.” Bruce’s face was grim. “You lost your pups.”

Relief flooded his body, and, unfortunately, must have shown on his face, too, because Bruce’s expression grew icy.

“Dick. I’m going to tell you this now, because I think you might want to change your mind. Alfred says he saw you purposely trip.”

“I swear I didn’t, Bruce,” Dick said. “I just slipped.”

“We’re going to speak to the doctor about getting you fixed.”

Dick’s blood froze. “No.”

“I don’t know why you insist on disobedience, Dick, but it has to end.”

“It was an accident, Bruce,” Dick said, his voice pleading.

“I saw your face just now, Dick. You were happy to hear you lost an entire litter.”

Dick bit his lip. Bruce’s gaze was hard on him. Dick squeezed his hand.

“I didn’t want to say anything, B, because…I know we’re a family. But I don’t want to be the pack’s omega. I just want to be yours.”

Bruce’s expression softened just a fraction. “We may have been too…eager to bond you,” he said. “But, Dick. You don’t seem to understand.”

“It’s what I was born to do, I know.”

Bruce touched Dick’s cheek. “I wonder if you do.”

“I’ll be good. Please, Bruce. Please don’t let them do this to me.”

Bruce leaned down and scent-marked him. “I can only give you one more try, Dick. That’s it. One more chance.”

“I’ll be so good for you, Bruce,” Dick said. “I won’t ever complain again. I’ll…” He licked his lips. “I’ll be the pack omega. When I’ve recovered, you can all breed me.”

Bruce growled and lightly bit Dick’s Adam’s apple. “I’m going to hold you to all of it, Dick.”

“I promise. I’ll be so good for you,” he said, reaching up to kiss him. “So good for you.”


	11. Now It's Rotten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought I'd give you a longish update, because this is as far as I've got, but I will try to write more soon!! It's just been hot when I write and that makes me sleepy.

They swore to give Dick three months in which to behave himself and heal before they bred him again. There would be no ambush this time, no solo affairs. Three months to steel himself for the pack.

But in those three months, things started to change. Gotham became unusually quiet. Though almost all of Arkham’s worst villains were out, no one seemed to be doing anything. It made Batman uneasy, and when Bruce was uneasy, so was the entire household.

For Dick, however, it was a blessing. The more distracted the family, the less time they had to plot to breed him.

He stayed with the children mostly, since Bruce seemed worried that giving Dick time in the cave would just make him rebellious again. The kids were growing on him, now that they were old enough to talk at him. His heart went out to his girls, but even the boys, going on two, were starting to win him over. Tim’s boy was quiet, easily picked on by his brothers, but all three seemed enamored of their younger sisters.

Dick was teaching them Romanes and Tamaranean, for when Kori came back. She’d love to see them. Bruce could teach them any other language he wanted, but Dick wanted his children to understand him, even if nobody else in the house cared to learn.

Damian had been grounded with a broken arm and had started sneaking into the nursery when Dick slept with the kids to watch them. Dick found out when one of the boys started talking in the middle of nap time. Dick caught Damian’s wrist before he opened his eyes.

“Ow!”

Dick tightened his grip. “What do you want?”

“Unhand me, Grayson!”

“Answer me first.”

“I just wanted to see my siblings, now let go!”

Dick did, and Damian held it to his chest like Dick had actually hurt him. Dick sighed and sat up, staring at his pouting brother with tired eyes.

“You don’t have to sneak in to see them, you know,” Dick said.

“Some omegas can be vicious with intruders,” Damian said, like that was a perfectly reasonable statement to make.

“You’re not an intruder, you’re my Robin,” Dick said.

“About that,” Damian said, making himself comfortable on the bed. “I’ve been thinking. You were quite adequate as Batman. And you performed your duties as Nightwing very well. It’s strange Father doesn’t let you out more.”

Dick’s heart beat quicker, daring to hope. “Bruce gets very jealous.”

Damian nodded, as if understanding. “When you’re my omega, I think I’ll prefer to keep you with me, even on patrol.”

There it was.

“Don’t hold your breath, kid,” Dick said. The boy had settled down again, sleeping with his head on his brother’s belly. Dick watched them and sighed.

“Do you love Father, Grayson? You can tell me.”

Yeah, right.

“I did, once.”

“Mother still loves him,” Damian said. “He must be quite lovable.”

Dick laughed. “He’s a force of nature. I’ve always been drawn to storms.”

“You must. You’ve had three of his pups.”

“I didn’t have much say in the matter,” Dick said.

Damian seemed to consider this. “Like me, Father is used to getting his way.”

“You really want to be just like him, don’t you?”

“Yes. I was raised to be. Weren’t you raised to be like your father?”

“I was raised to be myself,” Dick said. “Not a pet.”

Damian frowned. “Have you ever considered getting happy?”

Dick cocked his head. “What do you mean?”

“Grandfather had an omega servant who was always upset, so they fixed him. When that didn’t work, they did something else. Mother said it was an old practice, but she wouldn’t tell me about it, just that it made him happier.”

Dick’s blood ran cold. Worse than just fixing him, what sort of old…?

“Apparently, it used to be used by betas,” Damian continued.

“Like, a lobotomy?” Dick whispered.

“Maybe. That might be it. Mother never told me the name. What is it?”

“That almost happened to me once. I was almost operated on in place of a supervillain.” Dick shifted uncomfortably. “It’s where they damage your brain to make you docile.”

Damian looked mildly horrified at the prospect, but then seemed to think twice. “If that’s your problem, then why hasn’t Father thought of it?”

Dick’s hand clenched in the sheet, but he didn’t react otherwise, conscious of being watched. “Because he loves me. He wouldn’t dare.”

Wouldn’t he?

Damian shrugged, looking back at his siblings. “It was just a thought.”

“Well, don’t think about it.”

“I don’t think I’d want you docile, Grayson,” Damian said. “What would happen if we were all kidnapped and only you could save us? We’d need you vicious.”

Dick laughed harshly, disturbing the children. “I don’t think Bruce would necessarily want me vicious.”

“Well, it’s a pack decision.”

Dick ruffled Damian’s hair. “As long as I have your vote.”

The boys took that moment to fully wake up, and, upon seeing Damian, attacked him with hugs.

Breakfast the next morning held a strange energy. Dick spent most of it ignoring the uncomfortable silence at the table, focusing on feeding the children, looking every inch the doting omega.

“Did the Joker say anything to you, Dick?” Bruce asked, suddenly.

Dick looked curiously at him. “Just a nursery rhyme,” he said. “And you know, the usual. He taunted me about getting so close to the kids. Then I hit him. Why?”

“I wondered if he mentioned any plans.”

“It’s not like I’m Harley,” Dick said, laughing. “Why would he have told me anything?”

“It’s the Joker. Why does he do anything?” Jason said, darkly.

“Because it’s funny,” Dick said. “If he doesn’t find it funny, he won’t do it.”

“He’s always liked you best, Dick, as much as the Joker can like anyone,” Bruce said. “Why do you think that is?”

Dick shrugged. “Because I’m unbreakable.”

A hush fell over the room, and Dick felt his gut twist like maybe he’d said too much. He turned his attention back to the children.

“Did he say that?” Bruce asked quietly.

“He did, yeah, come to think of it,” Dick said. “It’s not the first time.”

He heard Bruce’s chair scrape the floor, and could practically feel his footsteps as they came closer. A heavy hand landed on his nape.

“We should talk.”

Dick’s breathing instinctively matched up with Bruce’s, and he nodded. “Jason, will you watch the kids?”

Jason nodded mutely, staring at them.

Dick stood calmly, and followed Bruce out to his father’s study.

“Dick. I’m only going to ask you once.” Bruce’s eyes were like fire. Blue flames, the most dangerous.

“Have you plotted anything against us?”

Anger scorched through Dick, hot and fierce. He wanted to deny it, to yell at Bruce for daring to ask him, when he, of all of them, knew Dick had the best reason to anyway.

“No,” Dick said, his voice even and deep.

They stared each other down. Finally, Bruce moved, embracing Dick. He rubbed his cheek against Dick’s hair.

“I’m sorry I had to ask.”

“Your paranoia isn’t palatable, Bruce.”

“I just needed to make sure you were still with us.” Bruce looked at him. “You’ve been an uphill fight.”

Dick stared at Bruce’s chest. “Yeah.” He tried to move out of Bruce’s hold, but he couldn’t. “I need to check on the kids.”

“They can wait.” Bruce cupped Dick’s face and kissed him. Dick forced himself to respond. “Dick. I needed to make sure.”

“I know.”

Bruce kissed him again, and this time Dick wrapped his arms around his neck, kissing him back. He hadn’t had a heat yet since losing the litter, but breathing in Bruce’s scent sent a rush of arousal through him.

“I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you,” Bruce whispered.

“You’d hunt me down.”

Bruce growled, pushing Dick backwards until he hit the wall.

“Bruce, I thought you were gonna wait,” Dick said, an undercurrent of panic in his voice.

Bruce cupped Dick’s groin, and Dick let out a growl of want.

“Let’s see how quiet you can be,” Bruce said, nipping at Dick’s face.

Bruce’s erection pressed against Dick’s, and Dick whined, climbing Bruce for more contact. Bruce had almost got their flies open when Tim came barging in.

“Bruce! There’s a distress call from the commissioner!”

Bruce all but dropped Dick, doing up his pants as he hurried out. Tim looked at Dick, sniffed the air, then followed Bruce away. Dick slid down the wall, letting his head thunk loudly against the wood. That was what he had wanted, not to be bred like some animal, but to be wanted, needed. Groaning, he redid his pants and headed back to the breakfast room.

Jason was still there with the kids, but Dick noticed that Damian had left. Like Tim, Jason sniffed the air when Dick entered.

“Bruce wasn’t trying to breed you, was he?”

“No, Jason, he just got excited,” Dick said, plopping down in his seat.

Jason didn’t look one hundred percent convinced, but he didn’t bring it up again.

“What happened?”

“You know the red phone?”

Dick’s lips twitched. “I didn’t think it was still hooked up, but yeah?”

“Tim took the call. Joker’s got the commissioner and apparently half of Arkham with him.”

Dick sat up. “To do what?”

Jason shook his head. “Tim didn’t say. He just ran to get Bruce.”

“Then how do you—?”

“Alfred heard on the extension.”

Of course he did.

“Come on. Let’s get the kids down to the cave and find out what’s going on.”


	12. We Could Be Heroes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What up, I'm back!! Well, for now, anyway. I promise this isn't going to be abandoned, but with *gestures at the whole world rn* going on, things have been kinda stressful. Still, new chapter, yay!

“The demands are Nightwing for the commissioner,” Bruce said when they arrived. He turned towards Dick. “Why?”

Dick shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Tim came up to Bruce, carrying Dick’s suit. “The wire’s in place. We’ll be able to track you and hear anything they say.”

They all stared at Dick, who had stilled at the news. 

“What is it, Dick?” Bruce asked.

“Don’t you think this is some kind of trap?”

Bruce nodded. “It’s sure to be. But don’t worry, we’ll be there to get you out.”

Dick almost laughed hysterically, but he reined it in. Honestly, he would probably be safer with the Arkham villains.

“OK. You trust me?” he asked, looking Bruce in the eyes.

Bruce’s eyes narrowed, but he nodded. “You’ll come home to us.”

Dick swallowed thickly. “Then let me suit up.”

Dick went out on his bike, the Batmobile following close behind him. Bruce and Damian were in the car, ready to come barreling in if Dick was in trouble. Tim and Jason were on their bikes, flanking the car, heading to surround Arkham so no one could get away from them.

Dick felt freer than he had in weeks. Even with the family trailing him, the fresh air on his face, the exhilaration of riding out into danger, it all felt wondrous. Too soon, Arkham’s Gothic structure came looming into view. The plan was to get in, get Commissioner Gordon out of there, and then go from there.

This time, the lights were completely off in the building as Dick walked in.

“The guards are passed out at their stations,” he said into his comm. “Doesn’t look like Joker got them. No rictus grins. I’m going in.”

He could see shapes in the lower-threat cells, patients who were also unconscious. “This was planned. Nobody’s awake in here. I really hope they’re not planning on blowing this place up. That would just be a mess.”

“Focus, Nightwing,” Batman said.

“I am! You’re just not used to my chatter anymore.”

Silence on the other end. Well, fine. Dick wouldn’t talk to him anymore, either.

Every cell in the high-threat level was open. He would have relayed this information to Batman, but, no. He didn’t feel like it. That was fine. Dick had handled every one of them before. He could do it again.

In the underground portion of Arkham, where the Joker’s cell was, he could see a single chair in the middle of the room. It looked like it had been stolen from one of the therapy rooms. The person in it was facing the back of the cell and bound tightly to the seat. Dick looked around, his night vision making everything an eerie green, but he could see no movement. He switched over to his heat vision lenses and froze. The body in the chair was cold.

“Gotham, we have a problem,” he said into his comm.

He entered the cell and stared at the body.

It had no face.

“Gotham, we have a big problem,” Dick said, ice slipping down his spine.

A hand shot out from the body’s head, slapping itself around Dick’s face.

_Clayface._

Dick struggled to free himself, but Clayface stuffed bits of himself up Dick’s nose. Dick collapsed to the floor. Under the rush of his blood in his ears, he dimly heard the sound of Batman yelling into his comm, before his mind went black.

When Dick awoke, he was aware of only two things: he was naked, and he definitely wasn’t in Arkham anymore.

The ceiling wasn’t giving him any clues as to where he was, so, after testing his bonds--they held firm--and verifying that his neck wasn’t broken or anything, he turned to look over his left shoulder.

Harley was seated beside him in a white skirt suit, balancing a clipboard on her lap, and looking very studiously at him.

“Good morning, Nightwing. I trust you’re doing well?”

“Oh, you know. Well as I can be, being strapped down to a table and, um, nude.”

“Do you feel a heightened sense of vulnerability?”

“Not particularly. It’s just kinda drafty.”

“That’s to be expected,” Harley said, making a note. “Now, why don’t you start with your home life? We haven’t seen you hardly at all in years. Tell me about that.”

Dick glanced around. “Is it possible to have this conversation with pants on? Or, at least, a towel?”

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Harley said.

“Yeah, I know, but…I’d just feel a lot more comfortable without the little Nightwing hanging out, you know what I mean?”

“Patient requires security pants,” Harley said to herself as she wrote that down.

“No, see, I just…. You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”

“Eh, it was funny.” She took off her suit coat, and draped it across his groin. “Is that better?”

“It helps.”

They sat in silence a moment.

“You know,” Dick said, “if it’s any consolation, you’re better than my current therapist.”

“People forget that I’m fully licensed,” Harley said, sniffing.

Dick raised an eyebrow. “Licensed?”

She rolled her eyes. “OK, so they took it away, but I still know what I’m doing! I’m not just a pretty face, you know.”

“No, sure, I get that.”

“Anyway, you’re avoiding the subject.”

“What was it again?”

“Home life. Why hasn’t anyone except Mr. J seen you in the last few years? When on Earth did you have kids?!”

“Ah, that’s, well….” Dick sucked his teeth. “Can you just go back to threatening me, setting up an elaborate death trap, or something?”

“Uh-uh.”

“I was afraid of that.” He sighed. “Where do you want me to begin?”

“Wherever you’d like. We’ve got all the time in the world.”

“Yeah, about that…. Where am I?”

“Someplace the Bat will never think of looking for you,” Harley said.

Dick nodded and, with that strangely reassuring news, began to tell Harley everything.

He named no names, of course, but he figured he didn’t have to. If it wasn’t painfully obvious who he was by now--especially so, ahem, exposed--then it would surely be a miracle. He also found that, once he got started, he didn’t want to stop. He didn’t have to hold back how he felt or how he’d been treated, he could, for the first time in a long time, be completely honest.

It was almost frightening.

Finally, he reached the end of his narrative. He was drained, emotionally and physically. He closed his eyes a moment, and, when he opened them next, found himself alone in the dark.

That night--or day, it really didn’t matter in the dark--he dreamt of flying. The whole family was with him, patrolling the night together. When Bruce looked at him, he was proud of Dick’s accomplishments. The Titans were there, suddenly, looking up to him, waiting for him to lead them once again. He turned around and there was the League, Superman beaming at him. Bruce was passing the torch to him. Dick was taking up his position as the leader, not as Batman, but as himself.

Bruce kissed his neck and Dick all but purred. Everything felt right. Everything _was_ right.

He closed his eyes in contentment.

Something pressed into him. It was Bruce.

No. No, he wouldn’t do that to Dick. He promised.

_But_ you _promised, didn’t you?_

Dick’s eyes flew open.

He was down on the floor of the Batcave, Bruce pounding into him. Jason and Tim were off to one side, already finished with him. In a panic, he looked around. Damian was there, older, obviously aroused.

Bruce finished with Dick and Damian quickly moved to take his place. Dick whined, but he couldn’t get away. He couldn’t move.

“We need you vicious, Grayson,” Damian said. Then why didn’t he feel vicious?

A new thought sprang into his head. Why shouldn’t he be vicious with them?

Damian finished and Dick struggled to his hands and knees. They all looked so smug. Four perfect alphas and their omega bitch.

Dick’s blood boiled. How dare they? How dare they _ever_ touch him like that?

He attacked Bruce first, digging his fingers into his eyes. He tore out Bruce’s throat with his teeth, changing into some wild thing. He went after Jason next, breaking old fractures to put him out of commission. From there he took out Tim, snapping his neck with his bare hands. He spun around to face Damian, who stood apart from them, smiling at him.

“I told you to be vicious, Grayson,” he said. “You’re all mine, now.”

Damian’s screams echoed in the cave long after he’d been silenced.

Trailing blood, Dick made his way up to the manor. He found Alfred at the top of the stairs. Dick grabbed him and threw him down into the cave, down off the platforms a hundred feet below. He kicked open the nursery door, and his children ran to him. Dick fell to his knees beside them, scooping them up in his arms, and carried them out of the house. Once they were safe on the lawn, Dick went back in, setting the place ablaze. He joined his children to watch the house destroyed, flames lighting up in their blue eyes.

He’d start over somewhere else. Maybe he’d rejoin the circus, raise a new family of Flying Graysons, free forever from the shadow of Gotham.

Dick woke up in the dark, crying.


	13. If Lies Were Cats You'd Be A Litter

The next time he woke, there was light around him, and a table of food laid out beside him. He sat up and found that, while he was still naked, he was no longer restrained. He tied the suit jacket Harley had left around him and got down from the table.

Fresh fruits and vegetables were set out for him, probably from Ivy. He wondered, vaguely, as he bit into an apple, if it was poisoned, but he wasn’t too worried. What was really the worst that could happen to him at this point?

He moaned aloud at the taste, the juice bursting on his tongue. Nothing had tasted this good to him in a long time. He ate voraciously, at least one of every single item on the table, each one of them practically vibrant with flavor. He greedily kept eating until all the food was gone. Yet, he didn’t feel full. He felt stronger than he had before.

The food gone, he began examining his room for clues as to where he might be. The room was sparse; only the table for food and the one he’d been strapped to made up the furniture, along with a solitary chair. The walls were wood paneled, the floor was stone--could be down in the cave system below Gotham--and the wooden door was locked from the outside. The ceiling was also stone, and strung with bare light bulbs on a wire. It reminded Dick of a mine, and that’s when it hit him.

He was in one of the old mines down under the Bristol suburbs.

Dick laughed, a small huff of breath. Unless this was part that had been caved in and cut off from the majority of the mine, he probably wasn’t too far from the Batcave itself. “Someplace the Bat will never think of looking for you,” Harley had said. She wasn’t wrong. Bruce was brilliant, but, just like when the kids went missing, nobody would look for anyone near to where they belonged. It was too simple. Too obvious.

The door unlocked, breaking Dick out of his thoughts. He moved back toward the opposite wall, though he didn’t have anything to fight with except his own body, if it came down to that. Scarecrow entered, for once, not in costume, though the look of disdain on his face was familiar enough.

“Hello, Mr. Grayson.”

Dick frowned, acutely aware of his nakedness in a way he hadn’t been with Harley. “Dr. Crane.”

“Are you frightened?” Crane asked, his dull eyes glinting behind his glasses at the prospect of Dick’s fear.

“Honestly? No. Not really. Just confused.”

Crane made a noise of disappointment and took the chair. “Please have a seat, Mr. Grayson. We have quite a long session ahead of us.”

Dick climbed back up on the table he’d been strapped to, adjusting the coat to cover himself. “Not that I don’t appreciate the free therapy by, um, properly mad doctors, but what’s all this about?”

Crane pulled out a notebook and pen, jotting something down before he answered. “Dr. Quinzel has discussed your case with me; in fact, with us all.”

“What happened to doctor-patient confidentiality?” Dick asked.

“What you had described to her was abuse. Naturally, client privileges are waived in such a case, as to make sure it doesn’t continue. As I was saying--”

“Not a hundred percent sure that’s how it works, but OK.”

Crane glared at him over his glasses and Dick shut up.

“Ahem. As I was saying, we have discussed your case, and we feel it is time to intervene.”

“May I ask another question?”

“You may, if you must.”

“I really do. Who all is in the ‘all of us discussed this’ part?” Dick asked.

“Quite a few of us,” Crane said. “If we could begin?”

Dick pressed his lips together at Crane’s lack of an answer, but let it go. “OK, Doc. But, I guess I just want to know why?”

“Why, what?”

“Why the interest in playing heroes?”

“We’re villains, not monsters,” Crane said. “Many of the others have missed your blithe spirit in the last few years. Even when you were a demonic little hellion of a child, you still had a sense of fairness about you. And, quite frankly, the Joker likes you. While he’s not exactly our _leader_ \--” as Crane said this, his voice practically dripped hatred “--it is unwise for us to cross him.”

Dick ignored the crack about him as a child, though it did amuse him to hear himself described as such, when that matched Damian so well. He would be lying if he said he hadn’t missed them at all, although it wasn’t with the fondness of missing someone you like, more the feeling of missing out on adventures that you should have had.

“Perhaps now we can--”

“So what’s the plan?”

“Dr. Quinzel said that you were a model patient,” Crane said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “She said nothing of your _constant interruptions_.”

Dick laughed out loud. “OK, I won’t say anything else. I’ll just answer questions like a good boy.”

Crane sighed and muttered something that Dick was pretty sure was, “more trouble than you’re worth,” which, honestly, probably was true.

“Describe your ideal revenge,” Crane said, aloud.

Dick blinked blankly at him. The dream from the night before popped into his head. “You know what they say,” Dick said, uneasily. “Living well is the best revenge.”

Crane arched an eyebrow. “Are you really so non-bloodthirsty?”

Dick sucked his teeth. Crane was looking at him like he knew what Dick had dreamed about, and was just waiting for him to say it. With a sigh, Dick told him the dream. Crane made short, but fervent notes in his book, never taking his eyes off Dick. It was unnerving, to say the least.

“And why do you think you haven’t enacted this?”

“Because I’m a good person,” Dick said.

“Wouldn’t you say Batman is, too?”

“I-- That’s not fair.”

“Why not?”

Dick made a face. “I’m not a killer, how’s that?”

“Is Batman?”

_He’s killed me a hundred times,_ Dick thought.

“No,” Dick said.

“I’ve heard it on good authority that you once killed the Joker, but Batman revived him.”

Dick bit his lip. “Yeah. I guess.”

“What are you afraid of, Mr. Grayson?”

“What if I can’t stop myself? What if I hurt everyone I love?”

Crane hummed. “Do you love them? Even after all they’ve done to you?”

“Of course,” Dick said, too quickly. “I….” He put a hand on his forehead, feeling himself tear up. He really didn’t want to cry in front of Scarecrow; that just seemed like a terrible idea, no matter how he sliced it.

“If I admit that I don’t love them,” Dick said, slowly, staring at the ground. “I could hurt them without remorse. I…can’t bring myself to do that.”

“Do you think they really love you?”

Dick spoke even quieter this time. “They love who they want me to be, not who I am. Not anymore.”

“Don’t you ever wish you could be violent? Vicious?”

Dick looked up. “Vicious?”

“It was your own word,” Crane said.

“Yes,” Dick said, a numb feeling settled in his chest. “I have.”

“Again I ask, what are you afraid of?”

“It’s a slippery slope,” Dick said, mechanically. “One murder leads to another. It gets easier to kill the more often you do it. I can’t do that.”

“Is that what Batman thinks?”

“Yes.”

“Do you still believe him to be truthful? Trustworthy?”

“I….”

“Honestly?”

“Why are you doing this?” Dick asked in a whisper.

Crane’s eyes glittered. “Breaking old thought patterns that are no longer helpful is part of therapy.”

Dick stared at him.

“And wouldn’t it be a feat to get the Golden Boy to strike back at his own family,” Crane hissed.

Dick froze. Had Crane released fear toxin in the air? Is that why his heart was suddenly racing? Why his vision seemed to be growing dark at the edges? Why he couldn’t breathe?

“Calm down, Mr. Grayson,” Crane said. “It’s only a panic attack.”

Dick forced himself to inhale deeply, and his vision cleared. It would take a little longer to get his heart rate down, but he could manage it. He’d been so on edge for the last few years, he’d forgotten what a true panic attack was like. When one is always panicked, it’s rare to feel a specific attack.

“What did you say?” Dick asked, when he was finally able to speak again.

“This therapy is to help you, Mr. Grayson,” Crane said, his tone even again. He closed his notebook and stood. “I think we’ve had a good session today. I will report your progress. Enjoy your evening.”

With that, he left, locking the door behind him. Dick was alone with his thoughts, and bitter thoughts they were, too. He unwrapped the coat from his waist and folded it up into a makeshift pillow, laying down on the long table. Within a minute, the lights turned off, leaving Dick in the darkness and with the distinct impression that he was still being watched.

That night, he dreamed of touches. Faceless people handled him, passing him around among dozens of hands. He was naked still, but he had no fear. It wasn’t like the fear he had every time Bruce, or any of the alphas, reached for him, the gut wrenching terror that the only touch was to harm him, to breed him.

Strange smells reached his nose, smells of people he almost knew, but couldn’t place. They enveloped him, covering his own scent. Flowers and acid and candy and poison and dirt.

He woke up smelling musty air. No lights came on. He was still naked, but his pillow was gone. Familiar voices filled the darkness and Dick raised his eyes. Light poured into the room and he recoiled.

“Nightwing!”

Jason was there first, shielding Dick’s eyes, giving him his mask. Dick could hear the others scouring the mine for others, but he knew he was alone. Bruce came over and wrapped his cape around Dick.

“You’re safe now,” Bruce said. “We’re here.”

Dick only barely remembered the ride home in the Batmobile. His head swirled with wicked thoughts and clouds of haze. They laid him to rest in Bruce’s bed, and there Dick slept, though for how long, he did not know.

When he finally awoke, Bruce was there beside him.

“Can you tell me what happened, Dick?”

Dick licked his lips. His mouth felt like cotton. Bruce handed him a glass of water, and Dick drank it down in one gulp.

“Clayface was there. He grabbed me. I don’t really remember what happened after that. Harley was there, then just darkness.” He decided not to talk about his “therapy session” with Scarecrow.

“They left your suit in Arkham,” Bruce said. “They unmasked you. You won’t be able to be Nightwing anymore.”

That knot started up in Dick’s gut, twisting and aching, and Dick had the distinct feeling something he shouldn’t lose was being taken from him. He couldn’t quite place his finger on it; he’d lost so much over the years, now.

“By that logic, you shouldn’t be Batman anymore,” Dick said, crossly. “They’ve known for a long time, I think. Since Joker took the kids.”

Bruce’s mouth hardened. “We’ll manage.” He leaned forward and nuzzled Dick’s face. “You smelled like them.”

“Like who?”

“All of them.”

Dick froze. Maybe that last dream hadn’t been one at all. “I don’t know what happened to me there, Bruce.”

“Don’t worry, Dick,” Bruce said, squeezing his hand. “We’ll take care of you.”

The rest of that day was filled with tests. Dick’s blood still registered low levels of fear toxin, which explained why he was having so much trouble focusing on anything. Bruce provided him with an antidote, but kept touching him. Dick still couldn’t explain why he smelled so strongly of the Arkham villains, but Bruce’s fears were alleviated when they found that Dick hadn’t been bred. By the next day, Dick would be well again.

His mind was clearer the next day, but Dick was not well, not by a long shot.

That morning, he woke up to find Jason and Tim in bed with him and Bruce.

“It’s OK, Dick,” Bruce said, as Dick started to panic. “Hush, Dick.”

Dick closed his eyes and inhaled, trying to calm his rapidly beating heart. All he could smell were alpha pheromones surrounding him. His body reacted to it, preparing him for what they were about to do to him. He sighed, resigning himself to it, and opened his eyes again.

“OK,” he said.

They peppered him with kisses, gently easing him down on the bed between them. The three of them were infinitely more tender with Dick than any time before, as though the days where he’d been gone had haunted them. It would have been romantic, if not for the fact that Dick knew what they wanted out of him. It was all about their possession of him, nothing more.

When they’d finished, Dick was a sobbing, overstimulated mess. They kissed away his tears, ignoring the way Dick’s hands clenched into fists at their touches.

“It’s all right, Dick,” Bruce said. “We’ll always take care of you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd say the end is in sight, but that would be a damn lie.


	14. All Around Me Are Familiar Faces

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure I'm satisfied with this chapter, but I've been sitting on it for about two weeks, and it's not getting any doner.
> 
> Also, I swear I won't leave y'all on this cliffhanger forever, lololol.

The next week, the others waited anxiously to see how many pups Dick would have. Dick, for his part, spent most of the week with the kids, the only place the others wouldn’t constantly be with him. He desperately wanted to tell someone about what had really happened down in the mine, what he actually talked about doing. He couldn’t even tell the kids just to get it out, because of the cameras in the nursery.

Someone was always watching him.

Dick was waiting for the telltale signs of his pregnancy, but, as two weeks passed on, and then three, nothing happened. He’d somehow managed to escape a new litter. Maybe it was because he hadn’t had a heat since the one he lost.

Dick woke up one morning to find, not Bruce beside him, but Damian staring down at him owlishly.

And once Dick managed to get a breath in after being startled awake like that, he said, “Don’t ever do that again, Damian.”

“You smell funny.”

“And how are your folks?”

Damian cocked his head in confusion. Dick shook his head, chuckling.

“What do you want, Damian?”

“I’m almost old enough to present.”

“Bully for you,” Dick said.

“Grayson, why do you always talk old?”

Dick sat up. “Because I am old.”

Damian squinted at him. “You are, but not as old as Father, and he doesn’t talk like you?”

“Did you scare me for a reason, or do you just want company?”

“I didn’t mean to scare you, Grayson. I didn’t think you’d wake up.” Damian sat beside him, crossing his legs as he watched Dick. “I was just wondering why you smell funny.”

“I probably still smell like villains.”

“No. You smell like plants.”

“Plants?”

“I mean, like fruit. You never used to smell like that.”

Dick frowned. “Do you often categorize my scents, Damian?”

“No!” Damian tutted. “I think I should tell Father.”

“Why?” Dick asked, tired. “What’s the big deal if I smell different?”

“Father said they’re having trouble breeding you.”

“Whoopdi-shit.”

Damian’s eyes widened. “Grayson! Pennyworth will never allow you to say such things.”

“I’m an adult, and you’re thirteen,” Dick said. “One of us is allowed to swear.”

“I’ve never heard you swear,” Damian said. “I don’t think I like it.”

“Are you going to tell Bruce that?”

“I--” Damian frowned. “Should I?”

Dick grinned. “Tell you what, you don’t tell him, and you can swear around me, OK? Our secret.”

Damian’s eyes glittered. “Do you mean it, Grayson? You won’t tell Pennyworth?”

“I won’t say a word.”

Damian smiled. “Good.” He looked around in case someone was listening. “Fuck Pennyworth, anyway.”

Dick couldn’t help but laugh. Damian looked cross, then grinned. “I’m going to like this freedom.”

“Freedom’s great, once you get it.”

Damian settled against the headboard next to Dick. “Do you miss being Batman?”

“What’s wrong? Getting tired of dealing with your dad?”

“Alphas are very stubborn,” Damian said, sagely. “You were much easier to understand.”

“Bruce works best alone. I don’t,” Dick said. “I’m a leader, first and foremost. That’s what I’m good at.”

“Father’s going to retaliate if they hurt you,” Damian said. “I overheard him telling Pennyworth. He wants to do a scan to see if they did something to you.”

“Your father is paranoid.”

“But you don’t remember if they did,” Damian said.

“They didn’t.”

Damian narrowed his eyes, his face looking very much like how Bruce must have as a child. “Are you hiding something, Grayson?”

Dick sighed, staring off towards the closet across the room. “No, Damian.”

“Grayson,” Damian began, slowly. “If I promise not to tell Father and the others, will you tell me something?”

“That depends.”

“I want a promise, Grayson.”

“I can’t give you one,” Dick said, looking at him. “I can’t trust anyone.”

“Oh.”

They sat in an awkward silence for a moment.

“OK, what’s the question, Damian?”

“If you could make yourself not an omega, would you?”

“In a heartbeat.”

“That’s what I thought,” Damian said. He dropped his head back with a thunk. “I don’t understand it. I was talking with Todd and Drake, and both of them say that they were taught omegas are always happy to be omegas.”

“What’s this about?”

“I’ve been practicing my intelligence gathering,” Damian said. “If I’m going to be Batman, I have to become the world’s greatest detective. Anyway, I’ve been comparing notes. I’ve known unhappy omegas, and their alphas got them happy in the end. Father keeps threatening to fix you, but he won’t. Todd thinks that you just need more affection. Drake thinks that you’ll eventually learn.”

“What do you think?” Dick asked.

“I don’t know what to think, yet. You seemed much happier when you were pretending to be a beta.”

“Both my parents were,” Dick said. “And anyway, I never really pretended to be a beta. I just blocked my scent.”

“But you never bonded with anyone until Father. That seems like pretending.”

Dick shrugged. “I guess.”

Damian leaned just far enough over to rest his head on Dick’s shoulder. “I think I’ll wait to breed you, Grayson. In case I want to bond with someone else first.”

“Alphas can bond with more than one omega.”

“I know, but I don’t want to fight Father for you.”

“I’m touched.”

“That reminds me. Why didn’t Father breed you when you first presented?”

“Because I was underage.”

“But you weren’t always.”

“I got the hell outta Dodge the first chance I got,” Dick said. “I didn’t want to be bonded.”

“Grayson?” Damian asked, looking up at Dick.

“Yes, Damian,” Dick said, looking down at him.

“I’ve never heard you call my new siblings by their names.”

“You get attached to things you name.”

“But they’re yours.”

“Their fathers can look after them fine.”

“Oh.” Damian looked away, frowning. His face suddenly scrunched up. “You don’t love anyone in this house, do you?”

Dick’s hands clenched at his sides. “I did, once.”

Damian sniffed hard, and Dick glanced down at him. “Hey, Damian. Don’t cry, kid. What is this?”

Damian put his arms around Dick. “I don’t want Father to destroy you!”

“Has he been talking about it?”

“That’s what happens to omegas that break their bonds. Their alphas destroy them.” Damian buried his face in Dick’s shirt. “That’s what will happen to you if you don’t love them.”

For once, Dick didn’t feel panicked. In fact, he felt calm. Serene, even. He knew what he had to do.

“Then, I’ll have to destroy him first.”

Damian stared at him, eyes wide. “You couldn’t. I would have to tell Father.”

“Tell him if he wants me destroyed, he’d better do it himself. And fast.”

“I don’t want either of you destroyed,” Damian said. “I just don’t understand why you can’t be happy.”

“Because I didn’t choose any of this,” Dick snapped, looking away from him. “I didn’t give up being Nightwing, it was taken from me. I didn’t choose to have any kids, they made me. I didn’t want any of this, but that’s what I got anyway. So, no, I can’t just ‘be happy’ and stay here. Not a single one of you has ever asked what _I_ want. You just take, and take, and take.”

It felt good to get that out, to say what he’d wanted to for years. He didn’t really mean to take it out on Damian; it just happened that way.

Damian was quiet. Too quiet.

Dick looked back at him to see the door open and Bruce standing in the doorway. His face was stone.

Dick knew the correct thing to do in this situation was to submit, to make up to Bruce, but, honestly, he didn’t have it in him now. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Damian looking between them, as if he was afraid they’d start fighting right over him.

“You may go, Damian,” Bruce said. “Dick and I have something to discuss.”

“Don’t destroy him, Father!”

“Go, Damian.”

Damian looked back at Dick, but Dick just held Bruce’s gaze. Damian slinked out of the room. Bruce shut the door behind him.

“Yes, Bruce?”

“You’ve broken your promise, Dick.”

“No, I haven’t. I promised to let you all breed me. I did. It’s not my fault you didn’t knock me up.”

“That’s not what I was referring to,” Bruce said. “You said you’d be good. You wouldn’t fight us anymore.”

“I can’t even have my own opinion now?”

“Dick, I’m not going to keep fighting you on this.”

“Then let me go,” Dick said, getting down, but keeping the bed between him and Bruce.

“You belong to this family.”

“I belong to myself.”

“You belong to _me_.”

Dick snarled.

Bruce lunged for him, and Dick sprang up, flipping over the bed. He yanked on the door to find it was locked. Bruce grabbed him and threw him down hard on the floor. He was on Dick in an instant, holding him down, but this time, Dick wasn’t giving in.

He’d had enough.

Dick reared up, smacking Bruce in the nose with his head. Bruce swore and moved back. Dick wriggled his way out from under him before a fist collided with the back of his head, sending Dick reeling back to the floor. Bruce was putting out pheromones, but Dick didn’t respond. He didn’t have to. He wasn’t having a heat.

He was furious.

Dick kicked up, catching Bruce in the kidneys, and Bruce went down. Dick rolled away, up and on his feet before Bruce reached him. He scrambled for the lock, managing to get it open before Bruce slammed it shut, pinning him to the door. Dick spun around, only to catch a punch in the stomach. He doubled over and Bruce grabbed his throat. Bruce picked him up, throttling him, holding Dick high enough his feet couldn’t touch the ground.

Dick grasped Bruce’s arm, trying to relieve the pressure on his neck, and brought his knees up hard into Bruce’s solar plexus. That was enough to get Bruce to drop him. Dick shoved Bruce backwards and made it out the door.

Damian was just outside, but he jumped out of the way as Dick came barreling out of the bedroom. Jason and Tim were at one end of the hall, but the stairs were clear. Dick was getting out of here, one way or another.

Bruce practically tore the door off its hinges in his haste to get Dick. Dick ran for the stairs, sliding down the banister to get to the next floor. He could feel the others following him, their footsteps thundering on the stairs. He chanced a quick glance back; they were gaining on him. He turned around again and froze.

Alfred stood on the second landing, his shotgun pointed right at Dick.

“Alfred. Get out of my way.”

“No.”

The others stopped, waiting.

Dick took a step forward. “Now, Alfred.”

“My duty is to the Waynes. Not you.”

Dick’s chest burned. His launched himself at Alfred.

The shotgun blast echoed throughout the manor.

Dick crumpled to the ground.


	15. You've Lived Too Long

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, just a head's up, this next chapter I actually have to do RESEARCH for, so it's gonna be a couple of weeks at least. But it should be longer. I just knew I couldn't leave y'all hanging like that, lolol.

Dick woke up to no pain.

He was in some kind of room, and he was pretty sure he wasn’t dead, but he felt nothing.

Slowly, he pieced together fragments of his memories.

Alfred had shot him.

He’d _really_ shot him.

But where?

That’s right. His knee. His knee had shattered.

Nobody was around him, so Dick tried sitting up. He was restrained.

He managed to get his neck and shoulders up. There it was. His leg was immobilized. Probably operated on.

Hmm.

Operated.

He felt what should have been a cold sweat breaking over him, but in his drugged state, nothing could get in.

Had they fixed him? Bruce had threatened it. Maybe they took this time to do it.

Dick tried to be upset about the prospect, but like everything else, it just rolled over him.

The door opened, but Dick couldn’t see who had entered. Was it Bruce? Jason? Tim? Damian? A doctor?

It was Alfred.

Carefully, he adjusted the pillows behind Dick’s head, checked the machines monitoring Dick, and left again without saying a word.

Jason came in next.

He sat beside Dick and took his hand.

“The kids are OK now,” Jason said. “They got scared when you got hurt, but they know you’re gonna be fine now.” He sighed. “Why’d you have to fight Bruce, anyway? You know you only get hurt when you do.”

Dick didn’t try to speak. He just stared.

Jason squeezed his hand and stood, bending over to kiss Dick’s forehead before he left.

Dick blinked, and when he looked beside him, Bruce was standing there. He hadn’t heard him come in, or anything, but the lights never changed, and the sounds….

There weren’t any outside sounds, like there should be in a real room. The place was soundproofed.

“Do you understand why you have to stay with us, now?” Bruce asked.

Dick looked up at him.

“You won’t fly again, Dick.”

Dick looked away.

“Jason’s taking on your mantle. Now you don’t have to split your focus anymore. You’ll stay home and take care of your children. Like you were meant to.”

Dick blinked out a pattern of Morse code, not trusting his voice to speak:

_Hate you._

“You’ll get used to it, Dick,” Bruce said, no softness in his face. “I’m sorry it had to come to this.”

Dick closed his eyes and turned his head away from Bruce. He wasn’t going to have any more of this conversation.

Tim, Dick was later told, was too busy to come see him. Damian was kept back by Bruce.

Dick knew by now that he was still in the Manor, in a room they’d set up and never used for his breeding, in case he continued to be violent about it. They’d soundproofed it so his cries wouldn’t bother the children. He also learned that only Jason and Damian had saved him from being fixed. Tim had abstained from voting either way.

They gave him a new knee joint, metal, and heavier than it needed to be. But then, he wasn’t supposed to be flying anymore.

Slowly, it healed, and, slowly, he learned to walk again.

When he was able to see the children, they were all very careful with him, as though someone had told them he was delicate. Sometimes Jason and Tim would help move him down to the Cave to watch the kids practice on the small gym they’d set up for them. Dick would watch the boys try flips and the girls tumble, and feel some part of him die a little more.

Bruce took him back to his bed and wouldn’t let Dick out of his sight until he went out on patrol. Dick stopped eating, until Bruce force-fed him. Dick stopped drinking, until Bruce put him on hydration infusions. Dick stopped talking, but nothing Bruce could say could change that.

Then one day, Dick woke up to an empty house.


	16. I Can't Decide Whether You Should Live Or Die

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> zomg I'm back.
> 
> We just have the epilogue to get through now and then we're DONE.

Bruce was gone. Dick hobbled down the hall to check on Jason, but he was missing. Tim had vanished. Damian had disappeared. Not even Alfred and the children were there.

He took the elevator down to the Batcave. If there had been some kind of Bat-emergency, that’s either where they’d be, or where he’d find out where they’d gone.

The whole cave had been damaged. The changing area was destroyed, and so were half of the cars. The only thing that hadn’t been touched was the Batcomputer. The screen was frozen on a picture of a Joker playing card, with a countdown below it.

Dick lowered himself into the chair and tried some of the keys. The computer didn’t respond.

“Computer? Where’s this feed coming from?”

No answer.

According to the countdown, he still had about an hour before whatever would happen happened. It took him nearly that whole time to get back upstairs, make himself some food, and bring it back down to the Batcave.

The countdown was gone and now a “Please Stand By” notice was on the screen. The official-looking Joker card face was now a cartoon with wild eyes. Finally, the screen disappeared and a live video feed came on.

The actual Joker was in front of the camera, standing way too close to it.

“Hello? Is this thing on? Ah, yes, there it is.” Joker stood back. “Hello, all, and welcome to this video trial. Representing the prosecution is Harvey Dent. Representing the defense is Batman himself.”

Dick froze as the camera panned over the makeshift courtroom. Bruce and the others were in the defendant’s table, bound and gagged by Ivy’s vines, but in costume.

Harley stood up from the dock and announced, “Court is now in session. His Most Dishonorable Judge Joker, now presiding.”

Someone jostled the camera until it could take in the full view of the room. In the jury box were twelve villains. Harvey was seated at the prosecutor's table. Joker was in a long white wig and judge’s robes, towering over the court on a spinning chair.

Harvey stood up to give his opening speech, but halfway through the Joker started playing with noisemakers and Harvey gave up. Batman was not given a chance for opening remarks.

“Well, since we got that out of the way,” Joker said, putting the noisemakers away. “I call the first witness!”

Harvey cleared his throat. “Judge, you can’t call witnesses.”

Joker banged his gavel. “Question me again, and I’ll hold you in contempt! Of course, I already do, but that’s beside the point.”

Harvey pressed his thumb to the bridge of his good side’s nose. “Prosecution calls its first expert witness, Dr. Harleen Quinzel.”

Harley skipped to the witness stand. “I swear to tell the truth, on my honor as a doctor.”

“Overruled!” Joker cried, banging his gavel again. “There’s no room for truth in a case against Batman, only fists and justice.”

“ _Doctor_ Quinzel,” Harvey shouted over Joker’s gavel. “What, in your opinion, was the mental state of the patient in question when you last examined him?”

“Severe depression from long-standing abuse,” she said. Joker stopped hitting the gavel and was now spinning in his chair. “Along with extreme thoughts of self-harm.”

“What would you say was the cause of these symptoms?”

“Definitely the environment he’s living in.”

“And what, in your opinion, would be the appropriate next steps in treating such a patient?”

“He should be immediately removed from the abusive household and taken far away from anyone who could cause him further harm.”

“Thank you. Your witness, Defense.”

Batman grunted through the gag, but nobody bothered to ungag him.

“Well, if the Defense doesn’t have anything to say,” Joker said, grinning. “You got any more witnesses to call?”

“I do,” Harvey said, standing again. “I call Dr. Pamela Isley to the stand.”

Ivy was carried up to the makeshift stand on a vine, sitting back on it instead of the chair.

“Do you swear to tell lies, all lies, and nothing but lies?” Joker asked.

Ivy shrugged.

“Good enough!”

Harvey blinked for a long second. “Dr. Isley. What were you called in to consult on?”

“I was brought in to do something about his breeding cycle,” she replied. “You see, I grow so many types of plants, I know which ones I can create to have a birth control effect. The more he ate, the longer it will last.”

“I see. And why did you give these to him?”

“It was requested by Dr. Quinzel. She thought it would help his anxiety.”

“Thank you. You may step down.” They weren’t even bothering to let Batman speak.

“I’d like to call my last expert witness,” Harvey said. “Dr. Jonathan Crane.”

Crane looked very much like he did when Dick had seen him, much more professorial than supervillain. And, of course, looking disdainfully down at everyone.

“Dr. Crane,” Harvey began. “Why were you called in?”

“I was asked by Dr. Quinzel to assess the patient’s reactions to outside stimuli.”

“Would Fear Toxin be part of that stimuli?”

“Yes.”

“And did you subject the patient to Fear Toxin?”

“I did.”

“And the results?”

“He was nearly non-responsive to it. He had a single panic attack of short duration. It was, ultimately, disappointing.”

“And what could be the reason for this lack of reaction?”

“If the patient was already living in a high state of fear, this would numb his reactions to outside stimuli.”

“Thank you. You may step down.”

Batman grunted loudly, but everyone ignored him.

“As you see, jury,” Harvey said, facing the gathered villains. “The case before you is serious. For Batman to treat any one of us in such a manner is what we have come to expect. But to do it to his own family, the original Robin; can that be seen as anything but beyond the pale? Can we, as self-respecting members of this community, sit by and allow this abuse to continue?”

He banged his good hand on the jury box. “No. Therefore, you must reach a verdict of guilty. Batman and his so-called family must be held responsible for the torment they have wrought on one of their own. If justice is to be served, it must be served by us. Not only must you find them guilty, but you must also decide their punishment, and the final place for the children of their union.”

The camera turned to face a corner of the room unseen before, where some more of Ivy’s vines were playing with the children, keeping them occupied and happy while the trial was going on.

Harvey turned to Batman.

“Have you anything to say in your defense?”

The gag was finally removed from his mouth. Batman growled. “Nightwing is responsible. He won’t let you get away with this.”

“But how can he save you now?” Harvey asked. “You clipped his wings.”

Jason, Tim, and Damian looked between each other, as if realizing the trouble they were in. The vines must have tightened, because they squirmed in pain.

“Nightwing would never let his family die.”

“Wouldn’t he?” Harvey asked. He motioned to the camera. “Plead your case, then. He’s watching.”

The boys started trying to speak, but the gags tightened around their heads, muffling their sounds. Batman stared straight into the camera.

Dick knew he should feel something. Panic, maybe. Anxiety. Concern. But, honestly, he was tapped out.

Harvey looked to the Joker. “Judge? Should we ask the jury if they’ve come to a decision?”

Joker looked away from the paddleball he was playing with (painted like Batman, of course), and the rubber ball bounced off his head.

“Ow.”

He looked over at the jurors. “Well? What have you decided?”

It was the Riddler who stood up as the foreman. “We the jury find the defendant guilty.”

The jurors erupted in cheers until Joker banged his gavel.

“And what is the punishment?”

“Death.”

Now, Dick felt something.

“Kal, I need you,” he said. Now. I’m alone.”

He’d barely finished speaking when Superman appeared beside him.

“What is it, Dick?”

Dick pointed at the screen. “I need to get to Arkham. Fast.”

In a flash, Superman wrapped Dick in his cape and swept him to Arkham. He flew Dick as far in as the door to the makeshift courtroom, then offered his arm to support him as Dick entered.

The whole court quieted when Dick entered, every eye in the place on him.

Batman nodded to him.

Dick glanced at his family and limped up in front of them, with help from Superman.

“Let me go,” Dick said.

Batman frowned.

“Let me go, and I’ll make sure they let you go.”

“You belong with us,” Batman said.

“No. Not anymore.”

“Yes, Dick.”

Dick turned towards the children. “Honey. Come here, babies.”

The vines pushed them forward, and they came running over to him, carefully clinging to him. Dick picked up the girls and let the boys climb up on him.

“If you won’t let me go….”

Dick turned to Harvey.

“Kill ‘em.”

Holding his children, Dick headed back out the door.

The sounds of his brothers’ muffled cries following him, with Bruce’s notable silence, Dick shut the door on them, leaving Superman to rescue them. Bruce had made their decision.

Dick had his children. That was all that mattered.

When Superman found them, Dick was on the hill just outside the asylum watching the sunrise.

“I notice you left me in there,” he said, sitting beside Dick.

“You’re Superman,” Dick said. “You wouldn’t let them die.”

Superman picked up one of the sleeping boys, settling him on his chest. “What are you going to do now?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll raise a new generation of Flying Graysons. Maybe I’ll just move to a farm out west.”

“You’re more than welcome to live with Ma,” Superman said. “She’d love to have you.”

“I’d like that,” Dick said. “I just need to be somewhere he won’t find me.”

“He won’t. I’ll make sure of it.”

Dick rested his head against Superman’s shoulder. “My last Gotham sunrise. I told the kids they could stay up for it, but….” He chuckled. “I’ll bet the sunrises in Kansas are prettier.”

“They’re amazing,” Superman said, looking at Dick.

Dick nodded. He was still young. He could get his leg fixed again, something lighter than the hunk of metal Bruce had put in it. Maybe he wouldn’t fly the way he used to, but he’d be free again.

That was worth everything.


	17. Epilogue:  You'll Come Home

The Kansas sun beat down on the farm as Dick and his kids finished harvesting for the day. The boys were growing into images of their fathers, but the girls still looked like Dick, so he counted that among his blessings. Occasionally, Dick’s heart ached to return home, but a good helping of Ma’s cooking and a long talk helped with that. Ivy had left the kids with seeds for Dick, which tamed his heats into something bearable. He hadn’t dated since leaving his pack, but that was fine by him. Better to be alone than be where he had been before.

A black car pulled up to the farm and parked just down the drive. The windows were dark against the setting sun, but the car was familiar. One of Bruce’s.

Dick shooed the kids into the house and watched the car sit there. Finally, the back door opened and Damian got out. Bruce followed him, fetching a suitcase from the trunk. The two of them stood beside the car, watching Dick watch them.

Dick straightened up as much as he could, not moving from his spot. Whatever Bruce wanted, he needed to come to him.

Bruce and Damian looked at each other, shook hands, and then Bruce climbed back into the car. The car pulled away before Damian was halfway up the driveway.

“Grayson.”

“Damian.”

Damian was older now, taller, looking very much like a cross between his mother and father. “I presented, Grayson.”

“That’s what you were waiting for, wasn’t it?”

“Yes. I said I’d mate you.”

“Is that why you’re here?”

Damian stared at Dick’s knee and the long scar across it.

“I’m like you, Grayson.”

Dick put a hand on Damian’s shoulder. “It’s OK, Damian. You’re safe here.”

Damian didn’t move. Dick pulled him in for a hug.

“You’re safe here Damian. No one’s gonna hurt you.”

“I don’t want to be an omega,” Damian said into Dick’s shoulder.

“I know,” Dick said. “You’ll make it. We’ll make it.”

Damian sniffed hard and wiped his eyes, pulling away from Dick. “Father doesn’t talk about you. But he still wants you.”

“He can want me all he wants. I’m never going back.”

Damian nodded. “I still miss it.”

Dick rubbed his back. “Come on in. The kids have been asking about you. Tell them nice stories, OK?”

Damian managed a weak smile and let Dick lead him inside to the warmth of an oven-baked ham and a pecan pie. It wasn’t quite Gotham, but Dick was sure Damian could bloom here. He just needed the chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've reached the end of this fic. I really loved this universe and writing this story, even when I made myself cry, lol. I think the next A/B/O story I write will be much happier, but this feels like a fitting end to it all here.
> 
> I love every one of you who ever sent me kudos and comments. Know they made my day so much brighter and motivated me all the more to finish this for you.
> 
> <333


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